Football Leaks publications by the research partners of European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) have brought transparency into a market of powerful intermediaries, making huge amounts of money with every transfer deal. Are you concerned about the role that agents play in the football market?

Concerned is not the right expression. But I think we need to restart the whole reflection around transfers. We see how many players are transferred, nationally and internationally. Only in international transfers, two to three billion Euro get moved around every year. These are significant amounts, and a big chunk of that is paid to intermediaries. I think it’s really time to analyze what’s happening and to look at all these figures that are increasing year by year.

Do you think too much of that goes to the agents?

I don’t know if it’s too much. The problem is that there’s no full transparency. The English association is a role model with publishing the figures of the agents’ fees. This already helps a little bit. If we can, we need to find a way to bring more transparency in the system.

We have come across a lot of cases where a club takes the players’ agent under contract. The agent then may advise his player to join that club, as it is willing to pay the most to the agent. Isn’t that the textbook definition for a conflict of interest?

Yes, it is, of course. The issue is how to regulate conflicts of interests. Before the new Intermediaries Regulations in 2015, this kind of thing wasn’t regulated at all. Now agents have to announce if there is a potential conflict of interest before the negotiation starts. And if they do so and everyone involved agrees, that’s fine.

But how realistic is it that the agent equally works for both parties at the same time?

Well, that’s a reality. If things are transparent, if things are open, that’s a first step. The question is: Is that enough? All this perceived or real opacity, and with your investigation the perceived becomes real to some extent, shows that we need to look into that. Therefore, I think we really need an in-depth reflection with all the parties: the players, the clubs and the intermediaries, as well as the authorities like the European Commission. We have set up a new stakeholder committee in FIFA for that. It will meet at the beginning of next year for the first time.

Why did you, with the Intermediaries Regulations from 2015, slack off from the control over players’ agents and delegated it to the football associations?

Well, it was FIFA, I was not at FIFA that time.

So you would like to revise it?

No, but we need to examine it. In principle, I believe in subsidiarity. It is naive to believe that FIFA from Zürich can know exactly what’s going on in all transfers around the world. Therefore we hand the responsibility over to the associations and the confederations, in order to check the transfers that happen in their own countries.

But how could that practically work? The Dutch federation, for example, told us that "because of the many contracts and document complexity, it is impossible for us to control everything". Do you think they have adequate resources?

Imagine, when even the Dutch federation tells you this, one of the best organized associations in the world! We reach some limits here. FIFA has 211 associations, many of them not as organized as the Dutch. We would need a whole police force to control everyone. Before my time at FIFA, the Transfer Matching System (TMS) was put in place, where each party has to publish the details of a transfer.

If it turns out that the information that was put in is wrong, we can take disciplinary actions. And maybe we need stronger sanctions for those who repeatedly break the rules. The TMS already has a deterrent effect for these people, so it’s a step in the right direction. Is it enough? Well, probably not.

The TMS statistics show that, for example in August 2016, the payments to agents have gone up and the salaries for players have gone down. Is that a troubling development?

As long as the agents don’t earn more than the players do, I think it’s okay. Now, jokes aside, that might be a one-off statistic. It might also be an indicator for the rising power of agents. But let’s see if this trend will be confirmed. Then we will look at that as well.

Although everyone is obliged to disclose the activity of the agent, according to our research it seems very widespread that the agents’ participation is not always disclosed. Why would that be?

That’s a good question. Obviously, if somebody doesn’t disclose something, it’s because he might have something to hide.

It seems like there are a lot of people who have something to hide in the transfer business.

I don’t know if it’s a lot of people or not. I tend to believe that the majority of the people, and therefore also the transfer system, are honest. I hope so. Having said that, that’s not a reason for not always trying to increase and improve the control mechanisms that we have put in place. But we are no law enforcement agency. When you have to put your data in the TMS, it is already a threshold against abuse. But we need to do more.

Tax authorities in several countries have said that it is a problem when the players’ agent is paid by the club because the parties can save income tax and VAT.

José Mourinho for example was fined by Spanish tax authorities. Why do FIFA regulations allow something that is considered a scheme of tax evasion in multiple countries?

I don’t think that this is a question of FIFA regulations. Everyone has to pay taxes and follow the law and everyone is responsible in front of the law enforcement agencies and the tax authorities. If anything happens in contravention of some national tax rule or law, they have to look at it. The complex situation for FIFA is to have regulation that sets the frame for the whole world.

So you don’t plan on changing anything despite legal problems in some countries?

We will discuss the whole situation and tax issues are maybe one part. But FIFA cannot be responsible for somebody paying or not paying taxes.

But you must be concerned about the integrity of the game, right?

Definitely.

You just said everyone needs to pay taxes, obviously. Of the biggest stars in football, Lionel Messi got convicted for tax fraud, Cristiano Ronaldo has at least a tax evasion scheme. Do you think that’s problematic for the integrity of the game?

If somebody doesn’t pay taxes or drives too fast in his car or causes an accident while being drunk or whatever, this is not FIFA’s responsibility. But if we can help to bring transparency in the financial transactions around football and in the respect of the laws generally, then we have to do it. The integrity of the game is crucial for us. That’s why, for example, we banned third-party-ownership (TPO) of players.

TPO is considered problematic because it could lead to external parties meddling with the clubs’ transfer policies. Do you think you have successfully curtailed its practice?

No. Not yet. But we have only started. There were some court challenges in different countries. Until now, we raised awareness for something that was not regarded as an issue before. You can still cheat, yes. But there is a higher threshold than before.

But you still leave open some possibilities, for example for a third party to invest into a club and participate in the overall transfer income. Why are you not once and for all closing investment opportunities that could leave loopholes for influencing transfers?

We need investors in football. FIFA, UEFA, the associations, the clubs. We need investors. Obviously it may not be their only purpose to transfer as many players as possible in order to make money. That was a business model of traders who did that through TPO and it was detrimental to both the club as well as the players.

That’s what needs to be regulated. Third-party-investment (TPI) in general is welcome, and with measures like UEFA’s Financial Fairplay we try to attract good investors. If somebody invests and works legitimately, it’s fair if he has a fair return. But it should be a long-term deal. That’s what I mean with good investors.

Did the TPO-ban financially impact the market so far?

Well, the figures go up quite steadily. We believe that the TPO-ban has certainly avoided some situations that existed before. Maybe the rising figures are a reflection of the TPO-ban, of amounts that were hidden before and now at least are open.

Mr. Infantino, many football fans love the sport but hate FIFA…

…yes, sadly…

… Corruption affairs have shattered FIFA’s credibility. The next world cups will be in Russia, which is a country with a proven record of institutionalized doping and Qatar, and the circumstances of that nomination process will loom over FIFA for years to come. What needs to happen that the fans can trust your organization better?

We need to show to the fans, and I hope we are starting to do that, that we’re working in a serious and honest way, in the interest of football. Football is a global sport, which brings all countries of the world together, aside of their political situation.

In this respect, the transparency that we put into place, coupled with a little bit of tolerance and open spirit, should help the fans to realize that the only thing we try to achieve is that we can play football all over the world. You know, there are people living in Russia and Qatar, there are people everywhere in the world who love football. Boycotts and exclusions have never brought any solution. If there are issues, let’s face them, let’s tackle them, let’s discuss them, let’s look forward.

Do you think about taking any consequences from the McLaren-report?

No. FIFA is not the world police and especially not the world doping police. It’s the football governing body. Whatever has to do with football in the McLaren-report will be looked at by our disciplinary bodies. If there are any measures to be taken, they will do that.

But so far you don’t plan to take any specific measures?

No, our bodies are still waiting to see all the relevant information. FIFA has its own anti-doping-system. Doping tests were not done by Brazil in 2014 or by South Africa in 2010, and they won’t be done by Russia in 2018 – FIFA will manage that. If anything goes wrong, it will be our responsibility, our fault. But we’re very confident that our anti-doping procedures will work.

The source of the Arifs' wealth originates from a polluting chrome foundry in Kazakhstan

Since the 1990s, the Arifs have been in business with the 'Kazakh trio', controversial businessmen close to Kazakhstan president, Nursultan Nazarbayev

It is these relationships that the family has spent over two decades trying to protect

Kazakhstan businessman Tevfik Arif’s letter to the Qatari royals on 30 March 2013 starts with a conciliatory tone:

“I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for our not being able to meet each other in Istanbul. My son, Arif, has informed me of the events that ensued and I was most disappointed and upset to learn how matters had unfolded.”

The cause of the letter was a botched three day, get-to-know-you meeting two weeks earlier. The board of the Qatari royals' venture firm, Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding Co (QIPCO) had travelled to Turkey with a couple of billion dollars to invest.

The man who invited QIPCO was Arif Arif, a 27-year-old businessman and face of the Arif family's London-based trading companies, Doyen Capital and Doyen Sports. Arif - who is also known as Arif Efendi, promised the royals the highest-level meetings with government ministers and businessmen.

The Qataris cared only about one meeting, however: Could Doyen get them in the room with Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan? 

For weeks, the younger Arif desperately tried to engineer a meeting between the Qataris and Erdoğan. But it was all without success. The royal delegation arrived in Turkey expecting to meet with the prime minister - and instead found the leader's door firmly closed.

The Qataris were furious, even refusing to meet with Tevfik who flew from his sickbed in London to try to soothe the dispute. 

In his letter, Tevfik tried his best to explain the mishap. Arif, he wrote, has "grown used to the fact that I always took him along when requesting the [Prime Minister’s] audience in the past [but] when trying to do so himself this time around the PM’s office was not so welcoming, largely due to his tender age and the fact that I was not present.”

This wasn’t bravado. Since setting up shop in Turkey, Tevfik had cultivated an impressive cabal of influential friends – and the list was growing.

The dirty dealings of the Kazakh-Turkish Arif family, and their powerful friends, are exposed as the architects of the Doyen Group, the major subject of the Football Leaks data obtained by Der Spiegel and shared with EIC's media partners.

The millions of leaked internal emails, contracts and other company documents from the Doyen Group helped The Black Sea and EIC partners reveal the inner workings of a multi-billion Euro global enterprise founded in the toxic smog and violence of Kazakhstan's natural resources sector in the early 1990s.

It is this cash that for over two decades has helped fund an expansion into Europe, Africa, the U.S., and Turkey, rubbing shoulders with mobsters, plunderers and presidents along the way.

In Turkey, the Arifs’ main base of operations, their influence has grown, almost undetected, through secret deals with the country’s rich and powerful – including those closest to President Erdoğan.

What is clear is that the largest leak in sports history is not only about football.

For a family who for decades had largely avoided unwanted publicity, the Savarona scandal in Turkey in 2010 was a dramatic coming out party.

On 28 September 2010, officers from the Turkish gendarmerie stormed the deck of the Savarona, a luxury yacht once owned by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. On board was Tevfik “Skip” Arif and a cabal of influential businessmen, mostly from Kazakhstan, being entertained by several young 'models' from Russian and Eastern Europe.

Months earlier, acting on a tip from an unnamed source, police began tapping the phones of a group of Turkish pimps and associates of Tevfik. Copies of transcripts contained in the Savarona indictment, obtained by The Black Sea, reveal that police first tracked Arif and his inner-circle when they arranged orgies with prostitutes, one of whom only 15 years old, at the Rixos Hotel Belek earlier in March. Then again as they prepared the bash on the Savarona.

After the police sting operation that morning in September, Arif was arrested on sex trafficking charges. For many in Turkey, it was the first time they had heard of the Kazakh-born businessman now accused of running a prostitution enterprise that included underage girls.

The charges against him might have been ambitious, but the new fame was unwelcome and problematic. The sting had exposed Arif’s powerful, billionaire friends to the media spotlight. [Read in more depth, our investigation here: Kazakh moguls, the pal of Donald Trump, teen models and the yacht of the 'Father of the Turks']

On board the yacht was the ‘Kazakh trio’, Alexander Mashkevich, Patokh Chodiev and Alijan Ibragimov. The three men, none of whom are from Kazakhstan, own the multi-billion Eurasian Natural Resources Company, a mining conglomerate with close ties to the President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

So, too, was Russian-Chechen tycoon, Musa Bazhaev, head of Alliance Group in Russia. Bazhaev’s Chechen family is linked to the mafia wars of the early 90s, say Russian media, when criminal groups battled to gain control of the region’s natural resources, and used forged bank papers to embezzle billions through the post-soviet financial system.

Around the time of the Savarona incident, Bazhaev, who inherited Alliance Group in 2000 following the death of his brother Zia (who was son-in-law of Nazarbayev), was attempting to convince Mashkevich to join a prospective oil deal between Alliance Group and CapFox Congo, owned by Khulubuse Zuma, nephew of the South African president, Jacob Zuma.

Curiously, despite renting the yacht for the week, and not for the first time, Mashkevich, former-president of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, was never questioned by Turkish authorities. Neither were Bazhaev, Chodiev or Ibragimov.

When Arif was acquitted in 2011, the company hired UK firms, Bell Pottinger and Shillings, specialists in public relations and privacy, to cajole news organisation into removing references the Savarona affair.

This was important for business. The Kazakh trio were seemingly crucial to the family's past and future success. It is a strange friendship that going back two decades to the early days of the post-Soviet Kazakhstan and the lucrative metals business.

The men behind the Doyen are four secretive brothers from Kazakhstan: Refik Arif, Rustem Arif, Vakif Arif and Tevfik, born Tofic Arifov. Little is known about the other three, but Tevfik, an ethnic Turk born in Cambul, Kazakhstan in May 1953, earned an international relations degree from a university in Moscow. His first known job was in the USSR Ministry of Commerce and Trade in Kazakhstan in the late 70s, serving as the director of the department of hotel management.

With the end of Communism imminent and Soviet state assets ripe to be plundered, Tevfik shifted in to the private sector. During the Savarona trial, Tevfik stated that he “worked in energy sector, chemical sector and metallurgy sector. I was producing coal in Russia and copper in Kazakhstan. Due to lack of coal, it was not possible to make production. I started to organise them”. Indeed, in 1991, he retired from the ministry and started his own private commercial enterprise, called the Speciality Chemicals Trading Co. trading in “chrome, rare metals and raw materials.”

It wasn’t long before Tevfik’s business brought him into contact with the Reuben Brothers, David and Simon. Natives of India living in London, the ruthlessly ambitious Reubens were at the time in the early days of monopolising the region’s natural resource industry through their company, Trans World Group. Tevfik joined them as an “agent on the ground” in Kazakhstan, according to the company’s internal documents.  

Trans World started around 1991 as a cooperation between and the Reubens and Uzbekistan-born Israeli oligarchs, Lev and Michael Cherney. It was the successor to Trans Commodities, an import/export business of Ukrainian entrepreneur Semyon “Sam” Kislin, who employed the Cherneys in the late 1980s.

The Kislin family, especially Sam, who emigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union in the early 70s through President Brezhnev’s exit-visa programme for Russian Jews, is mentioned by several FBI and secret service reports as being part of the Solntsevskaya Russian mafia group in New York – more precisely the Yaponchik organization of Vyacheslav Ivankov, a particularly brutal mobster, according to reports.

Over the next few years, The Cherneys and the Reuben Brothers spearheaded Trans World into a multi-billion-dollar behemoth in the natural resources sector, as it became the third biggest seller of aluminium in the world. To get to the top, the brothers played dirty - criminally dirty, say some.

It was during these years that the Arifovs likely crossed paths with the Kazakh trio. In an interview with EIC’s Belgium partner, Le Soir, Patokh Chodiev said that he, Mashkevich and Ibragimov first met the Reubens in Spring 1992. At the time, the trio were making billions selling copper on the international market through their British Virgin Islands company, Kazakhstan Mineral Resources Corporation, with the help of Kazakh officials.

Seeing a mutual interest, the Kazakh trio and the Reubens joined forces. They set up a network of offshore companies in the BVI, including one named KazChrome. It could not have hurt the fortunes of Tevfik, the Reubens or the Kazakh trio that Refik Arif, also born in Kazakhstan, in 1961, was from 1991 to 1999 senior manager at the Kazakh Ministry of Industry, and the “first point of contact for foreign investors wanting wishing to invest in phosphorous and ferroalloy”.

The eye-watering profits available during the post-Soviet fire sale inspired the rise of ‘gangster capitalism’, so-called because of the emerging cross-over of business and the mafia. Events in the region turned criminal – and deadly. The ‘Aluminium wars’ of the 1990s were a bloody battleground. Industrialists, like the Reubens and Cherneys, were accused of hiring contract killers to murder their competition in the aluminium sector.

The Reuben brothers would be forced to sell most of their assets in Russia and Kazakhstan. And based on these early deals, mostly with aluminium, a new wave of oligarchs emerged, such as Boris Berezovsky, and, later, Oleg Deripaska and Roman Abramovich.

By the end of the 1990s, the fight for soviet resources had mostly shifted from the streets and into the courts, usually London. These lawsuits provide extensive details of this period of lucrative partnership between Soviet and Russian secret services, high-ranking officials and top mobsters.

Arif is, during these years, intimately linked to the three main elements gluing post-Soviet’s violent entrepreneurs and secret services together: Trans World and mineral resources, mob organizations in the US and western European, and global financial structures that were built to serve them.

It seemed from the beginning, however, the 40-year-old Tevfik did not have the taste for blood. Tevfik’s son Arif later told a colleague his father left Kazakhstan “once the business began intertwining with organised crime”.

Tofic Arifov moved to Turkey in 1993, where, public records state, he had owned a jewellery business called Alset Dis Ticaret (English) since 1979. Within a year, he obtained a Turkish passport and Turkified his name to ‘Tevfik Arif’. Reliable information about Tevfik’s early days in Turkey is scarce. But in the Savarona indictment, he said that he did some business in the tourist and jewellery sector there, but emigrated with his wife and children to the U.S. shortly after, starting a real estate business that would eventually bring him onto contact with President-Elect Trump.

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that the family began to make its mark on Turkey and the rest of the world. But this expansion could not have occurred without the family’s solid cash source from back home – and its crucial connection to the Kazakh trio. In the mid-90s, the Arifs acquired the Aktyubinsk Chromium Chemicals Plant (ACCP) in Aktobe, located in the Aktyubinsk region of north-western Kazakhstan, near the border with Russia.

ACCP was registered to Refik Arif while he was still an official in the Ministry of Industry in Kazakhstan. Twenty years later, the plant is the only producer of chromium-based chemical products in the country. The Aktobe plant, according to a 2002 NATO Science Committee report, was responsible for pouring toxins into the local water supply, rendering it undrinkable.

Housed in the same town as ACCP is KazChrome, part of the empire established during the Kazakh trio’s ventures with the Reubens in the early 1990s, and which is now solely in the hands of ENRC. It operates one of the biggest chromium mines in the region and likely supplies ACCP with the chromium ore which is vital for its operations – and the Arif’s mysterious wealth.

The baggage of this post-Soviet world of violence and plundering was carried by the family as it set up shop in Turkey and the United States.

Football Leaks documents prove hidden ownership of multi-billion Euro Turkish hotel and construction business, Rixos and Sembol

Sembol and Rixos CEO, Fettah Tamince, signed secret documents to hold shares on behalf of the Arif family

Tevfik Arif's 'Trump SoHo' project, with President-elect Donald Trump, was "mob front" with Russian mafias partners 

When Tevfik Arif’s name was plastered on the front pages of newspapers in Turkey following the Savarona scandal, Fettah Tamince, CEO of Rixos Hotels and Sembol Construction, publicly distanced these top brands - and himself - from the Arifs.

In a written statement released two days after the raid, Tamince claims that, although he and Tevfik “had a partnership in 1999 through Labada Hotel in Antalya," their relationship ended in 2007 when Tevfik bought him out of the hotel.

“We have never had any other partnership except for this one,” he added. “Unlike what’s being claimed; Tevfik Arif has no shares in Sembol Construction or Rixos Hotels nor did he contribute to these companies’ capital.”

Documents in the Football Leaks cache show a different story, revealing a hidden arrangement, often assumed, but never proven.

On paper, Rixos and Sembol, two huge companies in Turkey, are owned by Tamince and Turkish architect Aytakin Gutakyn. Rixos has 20 hotels across the world, mostly in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia and UAE, and boasts an annual revenue of around half a billion euro.

Sembol is even bigger. Now one of Turkey’s leading construction companies, its turnover is estimated at nearly 1.5 billion dollars, mostly earned through public contracts in Kazakhstan. A presidential library, universities, a train station, mosques, luxury business and sports centres, four Rixos hotels. Sembol built them all. And more.

In Turkey, in addition to Rixos’s ten establishments, it received multi-million dollar contracts for the Istanbul Congress Centre and Zigina Tunnel on the Black Sea coast.

In 2010, the Russian Olympics Committee awarded Sembol around one billion USD in contracts for the Sochi games, including for a Rixos Hotel. During the consruction, the company was accused of exploiting migrant workers.

In September 2012, Arif Arif writes to his PA in the London office of the sports management company Doyen, where he is an unofficial director, to check if Tevfik is around. Arif wants Tevfik “to compile all news for sembol insaat and sochi winter Olympic” and “projects their doing and so on” [sic]. 

Additionally, copies of the Doyen’s corporate material refers to the Arifs'“controlling interest in Rixos Group of Hotels and Sembol Construction Company”, describing them as “founding investor[s]” and “continuing financial backers”. 

The clearest evidence, however, is an email sent to Arif Arif in February 2012, 18 months after the Savarona incident, by Tevfik’s business associate.

Attached to an email titled “Hi Arif. Here are the Rixos documents signed between Fettah and your dad” are a series of legal documents from 2006: a ‘Declaration & Undertaking’ and ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)’ – each signed by both Tamince and Tevfik – and a copy of the Rixos’s company structure.

The declaration, dated August 2006, discusses restructuring Rixos and Sembol entities in the British Virgin Islands. It states that Tamince holds shares in six companies, including Rixos, Sembol, and four others related to the hotel chain, on Arif’s behalf.

“While the Shares are officially registered under the direct or indirect ownership of me, my family and other companies of which we are shareholders,” Tamince attests, “Tevfik Arif is the actual, beneficial owner” of 50 per cent of these Sembol and Rixos shares.

“The reason the Arif Shares are registered to my name,” the declaration continues, “is the confidential relationship between me and Tevfik Arif and that the intent is, was and has always been that I would hold the Arif Shares in trust on behalf of Tevfik Arif.”

The accompanying MoU decrees that a new committee be established to decide on investments.

Among the five men listed to take a seat on the commission, which includes Tevfik and Tamince, are Rixos vice president and Turkish lawyer, Mutlu Simayli, and Eugene Jaffe of Salford Capital Partners. Salford is an investment firm operating out of London at the time and reputedly owned by deceased oligarchs, Badri Patarkatsishvili, from Georgia, and Russian, Boris Berezovsky, both key players in the 1990s aluminium wars.

Incidentally, in 2010 and 2011, the Arifs generously provided Berezovsky – under his new name Platon Elenin - with two unsecured loans totalling 6.5 million GBP (around eight million Euro) to “help with his personal expenses”. The loan, which was supposed to be repaid within 20 days, remained outstanding at the time of the exiled Russian’s mysterious death in 2013.

Berezovky spent much of his past few years locked in an ill-fated legal battle with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who he unsuccessfully argued had robbed him of billions of dollars in shares, including in Rusal - Abramovich's aluminium operation that subsumed the Chernoy's business.  

Tamince and Arif have been partners since at least 1999, when Tevfik invested three million dollars in the Labada project - a five-star, all-inclusive hotel on the coast of Antalya, Turkey.

At that time Tamince was already a respectable entrepreneur, famous for escaping his humble beginnings as a teenage carpet seller and establishing himself as a successful jeweller. The Labada was one of his first moves into Turkey’s lucrative tourism industry, and Rixos and Sembol were established to complete the construction.

The same year, Tamince and Tevfik started an import-export enterprise, Sardes Mucevherat Ticaret AS, importing luxury jewellery to Turkey. It was later accused of falsifying invoices to avoid taxes – a charge Tamince denies.

On the Rixos board is Ukrainian, Igor Gumenyuk, an associate of Rinat Akhmetov, owner of Shaktar Donetsk football team and one of Ukraine’s richest men. For two decades, Akhmetov has used the legal system to fend off allegations that his wealth is the result of early associations with organised crime.  

The Arifs are, too, connected to Ukraine. Sembol has three completed projects in Ukraine: the Victoria Hotel, the Metallurg Hotel Complex, and the “Donetsk City” shopping centre, a huge construction contract in which they partnered with Igor Gumenyuk.

The photograph of Arif Arif with President Erdoğan (below) was taken at the 9th Yalta conference in Ukraine on 14 September 2012, organised by oligarch Viktor Pinchuk. Arif attended the event upon the invitation of Pinchuk, who was Akhmetov's partner in the alleged corrupt purchase of the Ukraine's largest steel factory in 2004. 

Tevfik’s connections to the Kazakh trio and their good relations with Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev may have benefitted Sembol and Rixos’s huge public contracts in Kazakhstan.

In Turkey, it is likely that Tamince’s fondness for the influential preacher Fetullah Gülen helped Tevfik establish connections within the government.

Tamince first met members of the Gülen movement, called ‘Cemaat’, in Van, a city in east Turkey, when he was 12 years old. In 2004, when Gülen and Erdoğan were on tentatively friendly terms, Tamince told Turkish media that he considered the cleric an “idol”. Later, when he became wealthy, he gave money to the group.

Tamince would cut ties with the organisation in 2013, when Gülen and Erdoğan engaged in open conflict for control of Turkey’s institutions, declaring that he had been tricked by Gülen and that he was “in love with Erdoğan”.

The power of the Gülen movement in Turkey extends to the judiciary and law enforcement institutions. This might explain how Tamince may have cautioned Tevfik in April 2010 that police were tapping the phones of many of his employees, trying to gather evidence about sex trafficking [an accusation which Tamince denies].

According to the Savarona indictment transcript, on 27 April, 'Uncle' Gunduz - Gunduz Akdeniz, a man close to Tevfik who was involved in the Sardes jewellery company -  calls Tevfik with a warning: “Two or three days ago, Fettah Bey came to Istanbul, talked to Vakyf [Vakif Arif] Bey, told [him] man-to-man” about the surveillance, apparently active for “about a year or two already.” A lawyer involved in the case confirmed that ‘Fettah Bey’ is Fettah Tamince.

In response to questions by The Black Sea, Tamince said, “I have no relationship or contact with the after mentioned person Gündüz Akdeniz.” [sic]

He also denied any involvement with Tevfik Arif, saying “I don’t have any partnership with Tevfik Arif. At the companies I am shareholder of, Tevfik Arif doesn’t have any shares or any partnership.”  He also denied interfering in the Savarona investigation.

The same year that Tevfik and Tamince created a hotel and construction operation in Turkey, the Arifs established the beginnings of their property enterprise in the United States.

The offices of the new venture, named Bayrock Capital, were housed in the Trump Towers on New York’s exclusive Fifth Avenue. Tevfik was seemingly impressed with the future president, even sending Arif Arif to the same New York military academy Trump attended in the early 1960s.

Tevfik appointed Burak Yeneroğlu as president of Bayrock. Yeneroğlu, who lives in a mansion opposite Tevfik in Miami, is closely associated with the Turkic-American Alliance, a known Gülenist organisation. According to filings, Yeneroğlu raised 652,000 USD for Obama's re-election campaign.

Working alongside Yeneroğlu was Bayrock’s new managing director, Russian-born former Wall Street stockbroker and convicted felon, Felix Sater.

Like many of the Arifs’ associates, Sater’s history is colourful. In 1991, he stabbed a fellow broker in the face with a glass during an argument in a New York bar and spent a year in jail.

According to U.S. Supreme Court documents, upon his release Sater embarked on a “‘pump-and-dump’ penny stock fraud in partnership with "Russian and La Cosa Nostra career criminals." The mafia scam involved inflating the prices of near-worthless company shares before offloading them for massive profit, “bilking investors of at least $40,000,000” in the process. It would lead to his second conviction – this time for securities fraud and racketeering – in 1998.  

But that wasn’t the end of Sater. Following his conviction, he cut a confidential witness deal with the FBI and the New York United States Attorney's Office of Loretta Lynch – now Attorney General. He agreed to spy on his Russian mafia friends in return for keeping his convictions secret from banks and investors during development projects.

This pact, says the Supreme Court petition, “facilitated” Sater’s effort to “commit a billion dollars of continuing predicate crime during the ten years following his conviction” - the same period he headed Bayrock. Incidentally, in the mid-2000s he was appointed as a senior advisor to Rixos and Sembol, a position he still holds.   

Sater’s criminal career was of little concern to the Arifs as Bayrock grew rapidly in the property market worldwide, using its hidden connection to Rixos and Sembol to boast to investors about real estate transactions “valued in excess of $2.5 billion USD”.

In 2007, Tevfik told Real Estate Weekly that his success stems from surrounding himself with the right people. One of these is Donald Trump, due to be inaugurated as the President of the United States next month. “He's been very helpful to us from the beginning and he's been very helpful in opening some doors,” Tevfik stated in the interview.

“The strength of the relationship is: we do what we do best–and we're very active in what we do–and Trump does what he does best.”

It was in 2005 that Bayrock and Trump began working on projects together. The most prestigious of these was the development of the 440 million USD Trump SoHo, a 46-floor “condominium hotel” in the wealthy district of Lower Manhattan in New York, completed in 2010. Many of the complex’s residents are said to come from the Russian underworld. 

It is unsurprising, given the project’s partners. One of the companies in the Trump-Bayrock consortium was the Sapir Organization, owned by Georgian property developer Sapir Tamir, known as the “Billionaire Cabbie”.

Sapir emigrated to New York from the Soviet Union in the mid-1970s, where he took a job driving a taxi. He wouldn't drive a cab for long.

In 1977, Sapir opened an electronics business on Broadway. The shop is said to have thrived because of the Russian mob connections and KGB endorsements facilitated by his business partner, Sam Kislin - the commodoites broker who helped the Reubens get a foothold in the natural resources industry. Sapir later moved into real estate, and by the time of his death in 2014, he was worth 1.4 billion USD, much of this in New York property.

It wasn’t long before Bayrock ran into legal troubles. In 2009, Jody Kriss, former Bayrock finance officer, who admitted he knew of the company's links to the Russian mafia, filed a lawsuit against the Bayrock, Tevfik, Sapir and Sater. Kriss alleged that Bayrock was little more than a mob operation, embezzling millions of dollars, defrauding the Internal Revenue Service and extorting money through threats of torture and death.

Tevfik was accused of running Bayrock as a “mere conduit hiding the source” of its money - the family’s chrome refinery in Kazakhstan - and pilfering millions in dodgy loans. [Read more  'Donald Trump's disastrous relationship with the dodgy Kazakh business world']

“Bayrock does conduct legitimate real estate business," Kriss's petition states. "But for most of its existence it was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated. Arif, Satter [sic], and [Julius] Schwarz [Bayrock’s attorney] operated it for years through a pattern of continuous, related crimes, including mail, wire, and bank fraud; tax evasion; money laundering; conspiracy; bribery; extortion; and embezzlement.”

Long after the bloody gangster fights of the early 90s, Sapir and Kislin were welcomed as guests at the weddings of Tevfik’s children - along with the Kazakh trio, Musa Bazhaev, the Reuben brothers, Telman Ismailov - owner of Europe's largest bazaar, the Cherkizovsky Market in Moscow, a former hotspot for trading of billions worth of smuggled merchendise -  Leonid Bilunov, a reputed Russian mobster operating in Monaco, and a long list of eastern European oligarchs and politicians.

Most of these guests are “the mafia. 100%”, as one of the assistants of Mashkevich put it in an off-the-record interview with EIC partner Le Soir.

The illustrious guest list of the family’s weddings represents an interesting crossover between the Arif’s early connections to the business wars started after the fall of the Soviet Union, and their emerging prominence among the influential elite in Turkey, represented by the likes of Sitki Ayan, Fettah Tamince, and President Erdoğan himself.

It is Turkey where the Arifs chose to base their new operation in 2011, under a new banner: The Doyen Group.

Documents show GGK company discussing bribes to Kazakh officials for building permits

Doyen's Turkish coal business, Kamelot, pushed millions into an offshore company, while paying no taxes in Turkey

A Bloomberg article naming Arifs as being behind Doyen Sports caused chaos in the family over fears the Kazakhs would destroy them

The particles of what is now known as the ‘Doyen Group’ were for nearly two decades an assortment of companies “linked by common ownership interests by the Arif family and their close business associates”.

Between them, the Arifs own, openly or in secret, businesses in London, Lisbon, and New York, as well as a galaxy of “offshore entities (including in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus and Panama)”. 

But it is Turkey, where the family has “invested $15bn”, according to Tevfik's Savarona testimony, and which acts as the nexus for the companies' operations.

With such sums at stake, it is unsurprising that Tevfik distanced himself - and his poor reputation - from the launch of the 'Doyen Group' brand in 2011.

Instead, younger brother Refik began taking his place on the paperwork, often alongside his nephews, Arif Arif, Polat Ali and Malik Ali. 

Of course, not much changed practically. The source of the funds remained the ever-flowing money-fountain from the Kazakh metals business, diverted through the family's Ravana Family Foundation in Curacao. And the brothers still ran the show.

“The head of the family is my uncle Roustam Arif [sic],” Arif Arif writes in 2013. “In our culture, the patriarch is usually the oldest member of the family. Roustam is my father’s oldest brother. Even though my father is a successful entrepreneur in his own right (hotels, construction and real estate), his younger brother Refik Arif is the principal figure in the main family business (commodities),” he adds.

“Refik has a solid reputation (He has never been in any media or accused of any wrong-doing). My father is the more public figure due to his involvement in high publicity businesses such as hospitality and real estate with Donald Trump.”

The most public aspect of the new enterprise is the London-based sports investment and management firm, Doyen Sports, opened with a 19 million USD loan from Refik. It was to be the younger Arif’s first shot at running a family business.

Doyen Sports quickly began to acquire a roster of sports personalities like David Beckham, Usain Bolt and Boris Becker. But its principal interest was football and Third-Party-Ownership (TPO) of players, including Barcelona superstars, Neymar and Xavi Hernandez, and Monaco's Radamel Falcao.

If the young Arif brought the money, it was Doyen Sports's new CEO, Nelio Lucas, who provided the credability. Lucas is a Portuguese businessman who started his own football operation from the beginning of the 2000s, while still in his early twenties. He is said to have learned his craft from working for Israeli super-agent, Pini Zahavi.

But the old family ways were hard to shake off. EIC's investigation reveals that the Arifs' sports operation used offshore slush funds to pay millions in suspicious 'commissions', and Nelio and Arif tried to bribe the Real Madrid president into purchaing one of their players, using booze and prostitutes at the Arif family mansion in Miami.

It was all part of a jet-set lifestyle of girls, parties and keeping a clenched fist on their cash. Despite being a resident in London and running a multi-million-pound investment firm, Arif Arif officially only received a paltry 1,000 GBP monthly salary from Doyen. He also lived rent-free in Refik’s 20 million GBP property located at Carlyle Square in the exclusive Chelsea area of west London.

Bought by Refik in 2009, the family went to great lengths to hide the ownership and avoid UK taxes.

Emails in the Football leaks trove show that in 2014 Refik and Doyen arrange to transfer the mansion's owership from a BVI company to something called the “Carlyle Trust” in Guernsey.

Correspondence reveals that the shift was designed to save millions in inheritance taxes “in case Refik dies”, but also circumvent newly enacted HMRC tax rules on UK properties nestled in offshore companies. Specifically, the UK Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED), capital gains and the ten-year anniversary tax. Over ten years, thid could have deprived the UK treasury of millions in revenue.

Doyen's main operations in Turkey run through two organisations, GGK Ỉҫ Ve Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi and TGG Construction. TGG Construction is a property development company set up in 2011 and located northeast of the Şişli district in Istanbul. It forms part of the co-dependent construction network of Sembol and Rixos, and lists many of the group’s prestigious contracts on its website.

Guney Ikiz, former vice-chairman of Sembol and Rixos and manager of the companies’ Libya operations, was selected to run TGG, and the company's emails provide an insight into the group's blasé attitude towards paying bribes.

During discussions with Tevfik and Arif over the construction of a luxury condominium on Kunaev Street in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Guney writes, “Re the cost of the permits, as you would see in the Contract, we couldn’t specify the additional cost to obtain the permits. Because [Ali] Savcı [Turkish real estate agent in Bursa, Turkey] can’t say exactly how much we need to pay. I mean no exact tariff for the bribing.”

“That is a very delicate issue,” Ikiz adds, “as we communicated with A Savcı, he doesn’t want to pay on behalf of the Owner. He will tell us whom to pay.”

No one in Doyen appeared to object to the payment of this “bribe”.

A few kilometres west of the TGG offices, near Taksim Square, is GGK – “Gubre Gida Kimya”, known as Fertilizer Food Chemistry in English. GGK was established to invest in fertilizer products, mainly in Iran – but quickly emerged as a conduit for Doyen sectors, including coal, oil and uranium, such as the office which manages the family's 6.5 per cent share in Anatolia Energy - and the Temrezli Uranium Project - through the BVI company, Blenham Ventures.

In 2012, Doyen hired a London-based, former Barclays Capital banker called Timucin Kaan as head of GGK. Kaan agreed to take the position for a 240,000 GBP salary and 180,000 GBP sign-up fee, but only if Doyen agreed to alter the tems of his contract to ensure he paid less in taxes. 

“With this agreement I get taxed on everything I receive in Turkey,” he complains. “As you will remember, I mentioned from day 1 that this is an issue for me. We have discussed several solutions with Elchin Bey [Tevfik’s son-in-law]. One is to include GBP5,000 / month as my monthly salary in the written agreement where I can receive the balance offshore or privately. I have trust in the Group that if a portion of salary payment is only on a verbal agreement, this will be honoured.”

In a later email, he asks Arif Arif’s personal assistant and Doyen’s in-house lawyer to help “Set-up for tax efficient sign-up and salary payments.” [sic]

Timucin Kaan did not respond to The Black Sea’s questions about his tax affairs.

After Kaan’s arrival, GGK purchased energy group Kamelot Enerji for 12.1 million USD, using a substantial cash input from Refik through his holding company Castello Ltd and the family’s Ravana Foundation. Kamelot intended to import thousands of tonnes of Russian and American coal for sale on the Turkish market.

Rather than purchasing the coal directly, however, the Arifs used their Panama company, Doyen Natural Resources (DNR), as a conduit for the transaction. Documents show that DNR bought the coal for around 180 USD per tonne, and then traded to Kamelot for ten USD more. It’s not clear for how much Doyen then sold the shipments, but Kamelot’s financial records for 2014 and 2015 show only millions in losses - and they never paid any taxes in Turkey.

Yet Kamelot continued to buy and sell coal, sending millions to DNR each month. DNR's Credit Suisse statements show millions being paid into the family’s trusts, including the one in Guernsey which owns the London mansion.

In 2012, the Arifs had invested alongside the Kazakh trio from ENRC (led by Alexander Maskkevitch) in Zamin Ferrous, a mining company owned by Indian businessman Pramod Agarwal with iron ore contracts in Brazil. 

In 2015, the group became embroiled in a long-running legal disputes over money, including sums owed to Doyen for its initial 50 million-dollar investment.

Therefore in the summer of 2014, Doyen needed to liquidate DNR. They were concerned about Panama’s poor reputation with western banks, and a potential UK tax liability.

The iron and coal business would be moved into a new Panama company called Prime Natural Resources. But before that can happen, Doyen mist find a way to disappear over four million dollars it owes to DNR for the coal, without raising suspicions of fraud with the liquidator in Panama.

“We need to liquidate DNR as quickly as possible,” internal documents reveal, “to remove any possibility that the UK tax authorities claim that any profits from DNR should be assessed in the UK because the Zamin contracts are essentially being performed from the UK office, and because we need to show to the banks that the new structure is fully set up with the Zamin contracts being an integral part of that setup.”

If Kamelot kept the cash, it would "in all likelihood be liable for Turkish tax," says Amro Sinjab, Business Development Associate at Doyen Capital in London.

As other deals show, taxes are only minimally tolerated by the Arifs.

Doyen Chief Financial Officer, Nitesh Shah, suggests moving the cash to the Arifs’ Guernsey-based company, Eristavi, owned by Arif Arif's Lomisa Trust.

Shah writes to Rupert Worsdale, a tax expert with Luxemburg advisory and investment firm, Maitland Group, who assisted Doyen and GGK during the original purchase of Kamelot.

“Whilst [the move to Eristavi] may seem straight forward at first,” writes Shah, “there is a possibility that this debt may not be repaid for a long time, and maybe never. The debt would sit in Eristavi interest free, and would be brought in as another gift either directly into Eristavi, or through the trust. Your thoughts would be appreciated.”

Worsdale agrees to help. According to emails between Amro and Shah the tax lawyer advised that “the best option would be to shift it to Eristavi as a Contribution to Capital. There would be no need for interest to be chargeable on this and the ‘debt’ can sit in Eristavi's books until Kamelot pays it back.”

In September 2014, DNR begins gifting money to Lomisa – which disappears into the Doyen black hole of cash. Kamelot continued to trade with a new Panama company, Prime Natural Resources.

But it was not the only cash to make its way from DNR to Lomisa. A letter dated month earlier shows DNR “gifted an additional amount of USD $41,100,000.00 (forty one million one hundred thousand US dollars) to Lomisa Trust.  This brings "the total amount gifted to the Trust to $46.1m”.

Like DNR's coal revenues, these millions went to increasing Eristavi's share capital in low-tax Guernsey.

Another reason to flee from the Doyan name might have had something to do with a troublesome Bloomberg article published a year earlier. On 2 July, 2013, Bloomberg reporter, Alex Duff, published a piece about the “Kazakh Family” backers of Doyen Sport's questionable football operation.

Although the substance of the story was relatively innocuous, it seems that mention of the Arif family, the Savarona yacht and Kazakh connections, was enough to force the family into a frenzy.

The story was apparently enough to persuade the Arifs to close the UK business and recolate to a tax-friendlier Dubai under the name Doyen Meten. At least on paper. Journalists recently visiting Doyen’s London office witnessed a fully staffed operation, with the company plaque still on the door. 

The day after the story was published, Arif Arif complained to Rod Christie-Miller, Chief Executive & Partner at Schillings, a London law firm specialising in defamation and privacy. In the months and years after the Savarona affair, the Arifs employed the servcies of the British privacy law firm, Schillings, and Bell Pottinger, the London PR company famous for scrubbling online criticism of despotic regimes, to remove news stories linking the family to the yacht scandal.

“We don't like fame Rod, and [the journalist] does mention the yacht incident…” Arif Arif wrote.

“I don't know what could be done. In my eyes this isn't a positive article nor does it want to promote us in any way. I view it as attack on our business through using past incidents to add spice to the whole picture. Third-party ownership is looked down upon by animals like [Alex] Duff, because they simply don't understand the business and no one gives them the time of day to explain it. For this reason he slams it.”

Internal communications give a glimpse into why the Arifs’ are so publicity averse: their relationship with Mashkevich and his “friends”.

Following the Savarona affair, relations between Tevfik and the Kazakhs became strained. “Mashkevich didn't want nothing to do with us,” Arif Arif explained to his sister, Ayla. “He blamed dad for everything to cover his own ass.”

“BUT, “Ayla responded. “On the otherhand, he also is helping dad keep hold of his primary business”.

“And he's a great friend for that,” Arif said. “But he wants to see dad doing good but not better than him.”

When the Bloomberg piece was then picked up by Tukish media, Arif complained again, this time to Nelio Lucas.

“They are bringing up the yacht, the relationship to the PM [Erdoğan], everything,” Arif wrote.

“Doyen brand is dead bro. I have to distance myself and the trading from it…” he added. “Lawyers told [me] ‘now that your father has been identified as a key backer, the [Doyen] name is infected'” he added.

When Nelio reassured Arif that the Bloomberg piece was “not that bad”, the heir-apparent scolded his friend, reminding him that he had always lived in the civilised world, and could not understand the power of the Kazakhs to interfere with the family’s money machine.

“The most important is the kazakhstan issue. [We] Cant let word get out there otherwise we face very big problems.” [sic]

“[You] must explain to me,” Nelio answers.

“Get it through your head it's not funny,” he said. “[The Kazakh’s] will ruin us. They will expose us, our businesses and our high level relationships then it's all over.”

The “high-level” Turkish relationships the Arifs were desperate to protect include several businessmen close to the President.

The Arifs became partners with Turkish President Erdogan's childhood friend, Sitki Ayan, on a failed Iran-Turkey-Europe gas pipeline

This partnership now includes futher multi-billion deals backed by Erdogan, including exclusive contracts to sell natural gas and electricity from Iran and Turkmenistan

Arifs discussed paying millions to get Real Madrid to perform for Turkmenistan president in the hope this would facilitate the energy deal.

Even though the Savarona yacht prostitution scandal supplied an abundance of unwanted attention in Turkey, where citizens are mostly conservative and Muslim, it seems it did not dampen the Arifs' appeal to the country's privileged elite, including those within President Erdogan’s inner circle.

It certainly didn't sway Ali Demirhan, stalwart of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party, known as the AKP, when he became Doyen's new legal advisor in 2012. Demirhan is a Turkish lawyer and chairman of his own construction and tourism company, Mirhan Holdings.

He is described inside Doyen as a “close friend and partner” of the Arifs. According to his own bio, Demirhan “was born in 1976 in Istanbul; he is married and has 3 children. He has a BA in Law from Istanbul University.”

He is also reputedly a good friend and supporter of Erdogan: “For the past 30 years Mr Demirhan’s family has been supporting the political career of Prime Minister Erdoğan,” the biography stated. A few years ago he unsuccessfully ran as an MP for the AKP.

Demirhan became useful almost immediately, during a scandal involving Sarah Ferguson, Britain's Duchess of York and former wife of Prince Andrew, brother of the heir to the British throne.

In 2008, the Duchess took part in an undercover documentary on the shabby state of Turkey’s orphanages. In the film, disabled chidren were left in their own excrement and one, who was never let outside, had to lay in a corridor close to a window to feel the sunlight on his face.

The film prompted Turkey's Social Security and Child Services Authority and the Ministry of Family Affairs to lodge a criminal complaint against Ferguson for entering the country under false pretences, and claimed she was part of a “smearing campaign against Turkey by [those] opposing Turkey’s EU membership.”

The Ministry of Justice even issued an international arrest warrant.

The Duchess turned to her friend in London, Arif Arif, and Demirhan, to defuse the crisis. Doyen drafted an apology letter for Ferguson addressed to Prime Minister Erdoğan explaining the misunderstanding. It is not clear if the letter was ever delivered, but the charges against Ferguson were eventually dropped.

Aside from a little PR for former royals, Demirhan assisted Doyen in exploring education and gold deals in Turkey. But he also opened doors for Doyen.

On a chilly Istanbul evening in the beginning of March 2012, Demirhan introduced Doyen Capital's vice president, Tevfik Eren to Turkey’s answer to Donald Trump: Ali Agaoglu – a real estate magnate close to Erdoğan. Agaoglu has in the past been accused of donating millions to Turgev, the education foundation of Bilal Erdoğan, the president’s son, in return for public contracts.

After a dinner at the up-market Maisa restaurant in Istanbul's bankside neighbourhood İstinye, the trio travelled to Fiyapi Inonu stadium, home of Beşiktaş football club, to watch the team play local side Trabzon. Here, Eren made some important contacts.

“In the half time,” Eren writes, “Ali [Demirhan] introduced me to Mr Sadik Albayrak and Mr Murat Ulgen, CEO of [Beşiktaş]. Mr Sadik Albayrak is the father of Mr Berat Albayrak, CEO of Çalık Holding, who is also the son-in-law of Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.”

“Both conversations were short and welcoming,” he adds. “Ali mentioned briefly about our presence in UK and told that he’d introduce me to Mr Berat Albayrak, in order to pursue potential synergies that we might achieve together.”

Ağaoğlu arranged meetings for the following day with several other prominent figures, including AKP MP Mikail Arslan, Guney Ikiz, who became head of TGG Construction a year later, Hakan Ferhatoğlu, chairman of Ata Invest & board member of construction company, and Yuksel Insaat, involved in the 6.3 billion USD Istanbul-Izmir Highway project.

It appears that the introductions bore fruit for the ambitious Arif enterprise. Doyen would soon be involved in Turkmenistan energy deals with Çalık Holding.

The energy deals appear to be facilitated by another prominent business connection: Sitki Ayan, chairman of energy trading firm ASB Group and childhood friend of President Erdoğan. Ayan and Erdogan are close. So close that Ayan calls the president by his first name in public and occasionally joins the him on official trips abroad.

In July 2010, Ayan and the state-owned Iranian National Gas Company declared that Som Petrol, a subsidiary of ASB Group, Ayan’s main enterprise, had been awarded a billion Euro contract to help build the ‘Persian pipeline’ – a huge, four-year infrastructure project to transport 35 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Iran to the EU, though Turkey.

The ‘Persian pipeline’ - or Iran-Turkey-Europe pipeline (ITE) - deal was forged amid increased international pressure to enforce sanctions against the Iranian government over the West’s fears of nuclear proliferation.

Seemingly, the announcement by Ayan and Iranian officials came as a shock to some. Almost immediately, Turkish energy minister, Taner Yildiz, publicly rejected Ayan’s claims, declaring that neither the government nor Turkey’s Petroleum Pipeline Corporation, BOTAŞ, had determined who would receive the contract on the Turkish side.

But Ayan’s confidence was not exactly misplaced. Despite ASB Group and SOM seen largely as trading companies, with no experience in infrastructure projects of this size, Erdoğan’s cabinet approved the pipeline deal in August – as Tevfik and his Kazakh friends were preparing their adventures on Ataturk’s yacht – naming SOM Petrol subsidiary, Turang Transit Tasimacilik, as the licensee.

A year later, in the autumn of 2011, months after Tevfik was acquitted of the trafficking charges by a Turkish court, the Arifs and Ayan struck a deal for the Iranian gas.

The Arifs controlled 50 per cent of the new venture, Somas Enerji, which held the rights to sell the gas in Turkey, through ASTU Doğalgaz Enerji Ticaret Ltd., jointly owned by Refik Arif and Malik Ali.

The Arifs' role was unsurprising, given their background. According to agreements found in the Football Leaks data, they will “exclusively manage and conduct negotiations with gas suppliers from the former Soviet Union countries such as Turkmenistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan etc,” – in return for 20 per cent of any profits.

Ayan and his son Bahaddin Ayan would have been tasked with lobbying the “Iran government regarding transportation/transit of the natural gas to be transferred to Turkey and/or UAE”

The Arifs were true to their word apparently. In May 2012, Turkmenistan Energy Minister Bairamgeldy Nedirov invited Sitki Ayan to a meeting in the capital Ashgabat to discuss electricity exports. Sitki graciously agrees to attend along with “Mr. Tevfik Arif, and Mr. Hamid Farzam, as Advisor to Deputy Energy Minister to Iran. [sic]”

At the time, Arif Arif told Nelio Lucas that Doyen was "on the verge of something big in Turkmenistan. This will be Skips masterpiece."

As a greaser, he suggested that they "bring either Real Madrid or Barca there to play an exhibition match to impress the president. There are billions to be made there. I need you to take this very serious and start planning asap please” [sic].

“OK,” Nelio answered, “President of Real [Madrid] is in London today. I fly with him to Madrid. A few days later, Nelio updates Arif. “It’s simple. 3m € Minimum, and they need to have a date.”

Ultimately, the money never showed up. But the willingness of the family to exploit its football connections was hampered only by a reluctance to part with three million Euro. So Real Madrid escaped having to grandstand for Turkmenistan’s autocratic leader, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, in the service of the Arifs’ business interests.

But whatever else happened behind the scenes appears to have worked. The following year, the Turkmenenergo State Power Corporation of the Ministry of Energy in Turkmenistan awarded Ayan’s company, Gent, the rights to sell electricity to Turkey through Iran.

The Arifs were placed firmly in the centre of deal.

Through its holding in ASTU Dogalgaz Enerji, the family owned 50 per cent of ASKA Energy, the company set to sell the electricity on the Turkish market. It took only a month for ASKA to obtain its licence from Turkey’s Energy Market Management Authority (EPDK). The EPDK application shows the structure of the operation, signed by Refik Arif and Sitki Ayan.

To this day, the Iran-Turkey-EU (ITE) pipeline, which Ayan promised would be completed by 2014, has never materialised. Experts believe that the Som Petrol deal was permitted by the Turkish government to soothe Washington’s concerns over a similar project agreed in 2007 between Iran and the state-owned Turkish National Oil Co, which skirted close to violating sanctions.   

Whatever the truth, the Turkish state appeared keen to reward Ayan and his troupe for their failures. On 16 December 2013, the government announced 3.3bn Euro in “incentives” - customs tax exemptions, tax discounts and social security support – to Turang Transit for transporting “natural gas through pipeline”. It was at the time the second highest “incentive” package ever awarded in Turkey - the highest being awarded to Çalık Holdings – whose CEO was Berat Albayrak – for the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline project.

The following day, Erdoğan’s government was hit by a massive corruption scandal, as police arrested over 50 people with links to the AKP - including MPs and members of their families, and businessmen, like Ali Ağaoğlu - implicated in a catalogue of financial misdeeds.

In the end 14 were officially charged with a range of crimes, including bribery, fraud, money laundering and smuggling gold.

The accusations related to the Turkey’s gas deal with Iran. The Iran government was at the time still under international sanctions over its alleged nuclear programme. But Turkey had found a loophole: gold. Sanctions permitted the exporting of gold out of Turkey.

A scheme was engineered to pay for the gas and oil in Turkish Lira using an account at the county's Halkbank. With over ten billion dollars in revenue, the Iranians purchase gold bullion, which was shipped to Iran though the UAE.

A week later, the crisis intensified as tapes emerged of conversations between Erdoğan and his son, Bilal, appearing to discuss bribes from Ayan.

“Mr. Sıtkı came yesterday saying he couldn’t do the transfer properly,” Bilal says. But “that he currently has about 10 or so (million dollars), [and] that he can give it whenever we want”.

“No no,” Erdoğan replied. “Don’t you take it… If he’s going to bring what he promised, then let him bring it. If not, then no need. Others can bring it, so why can’t he, huh? … But they are falling now, they’ll fall on our laps, don’t you worry.”

Erdoğan denied the authenticity of the recordings, but many in Turkey believe the conversations related to energy deal “incentives” announced the day before the arrests.

Ultimately, the AKP government sabotaged the corruption investigation. But if Erdoğan ever thought to distance himself from Ayan and the scandal or mitigate accusations of political nepotism and corruption, he didn’t show it. In November 2014, three months after becoming Turkey’s first ever publicly elected president, he made an official visit to Turkmenistan to meet with President Berdimuhamedov.

It seems that gas was the primary purpose of the trip. Standing proudly in the Seljuk Khan Hall, named after the 11th century Turkic ruler who founded the Seljuk Empire in Central Asia and Anatolia, at the Oguzkhan Presidential Palace, the presidents announced the signing of a “Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the field of purchase and sale of the natural gas” between Turkmengaz and Atagas Dogalgaz Ticaret A.Ş, through Iran.

It was quite a gift. The people now set to get rich from the world’s desire to reduce its dependency on controversial Russian energy are none other than Sitki Ayan, the Arifs, and Ahmet Çalık, owner of Çalık Holdings, of which Berat Albayrak used to be CEO.

Albayrak resigned from Çalık in late 2013 and was appointed Minister for Energy and Natural Resources for the AKP government in 2015.

Documents from April 2015 reveal that Sitki transferred half of his shares in Atagas to ASTÜ Doğalgaz Enerji, the company opened by the Arifs back in 2011 when it engaged in the original Iran pipeline contract. At the same time, a young Azerbaijani named Elçin Beridze, was appointed to Atagas’s board of directors. His address is listed as the £20m mansion at Carlyle Square in London – where he presumably lives with his wife, Ayla Arif - Tevfik Arif's daughter.

Months later, the gang got together again at a ceremony in France for the celebration of Arif’s wedding to a young Uzbek woman.

The guest list, included in the Football Leaks data, shows diplomats, oligarchs and former heads of state, invited to mingle with reputed mobsters and convicted criminals. It is a luxurious event that celebrates not just a marriage, but the Arif family’s quiet pursuit of money, power and influence over the last 25 years.

·       Football Leaks'ten çıkan belgeler Rixos Oteller Grubu ve Sembol İnşaat'ın ardındaki gizli ortağı ilk kez kanıtlarıyla ortaya çıkarıyor. 

·       Sembol and Rixos CEO'su Fettah Tamince, kendi üzerine kayıtlı görünen hisselerin aslında Arif ailesine ait olduğuna dair gizli belge imzaladı.

·       Tevfik Arif'in Donald Trump'la yaptığı yatırım 'Trump SoHo' projesine Rus mafyası nasıl bulaştı?

> ÜÇÜNCÜ BÖLÜM: Boğaz'a nazır: Doyen'in Türkiye şirketleri ve bağlantıları

Tevfik Arif’in adı Savarona skandalıyla beraber Türkiye’de de duyulunca, Rixos Otelleri ve Sembol İnşaat’ın kurucusu Fettah Tamince görünürde hem kendini hem de şirketlerini Arif’den uzaklaştırmıştı.

Baskından iki gün sonra yaptığı basın açıklamasında Tamince, 1999 yılında Arif’le Labada Otel yatırımında ortaklıkları olduğunu söylemiş ancak 2007 yılında otelin Arif’e devredilmesiyle ortaklıklarının bittiğini belirtmişti.

“Bu ortak yatırımın dışında herhangi bir ortaklığımız söz konusu olmamıştır,” demiş ve şöyle eklemişti: “Basında yer alan haberlerin aksine, Tevfik Arif’in gerek Sembol İnşaat şirketimizde ve gerekse Rixos Grup’umuzda herhangi bir hissesi bulunmadığı gibi herhangi bir sermaye katkısı da olmamıştır.”

Football Leaks’le sızdırılan veriler ise bunun aksini gösteriyor. Eldeki belgeler hep tartışma konusu olan ama daha önce kanıtlanamamış bir ortaklığı gün yüzüne çıkarıyor.

Kağıt üstünde Rixos’un sahibi Tamince, Sembol İnşaat’ı ise Aytekin Gültekin’le beraber yönetiyor. Rixos’un tüm dünyada 20 oteli var ve yıllık yarım milyar liraya yakın cirosu olduğu biliniyor.

Sembol İnşaat’ın ise yıllık cirosunun yaklaşık 1.5 milyar dolar olduğu tahmin ediliyor. Türk hükümetinin de favori inşaat şirketlerinden olan Sembol’ün Kazakistan’da da oldukça prestijli ve kârlı projeleri bulunuyor.  

2010 yılında Sembol İnşaat, Rusya’da Sochi olimpiyatları için yaklaşık bir milyar dolarlık ihale kazanmıştı. Şirket, Sochi’deki inşaatlar sırasında göçmen işçileri sömürmekle suçlanmıştı. 

Eylül 2012’de Arif Arif, Doyen Londra ofisinde asistanına bir e-posta gönderiyor ve “Sembol İnşaat ve Sochi kış Olimpiyatları’yla ilgili bütün haberleri ve şirketin projeleriyle ilgili bilgileri” kendisine göndermesini istiyor.

Ayrıca da Doyen’in yatırımlarını anlattığı e-postalar ve tanıtım broşürlerinde Arif ailesinin “Rixos ve Sembol şirketlerinde çoğunluk hissesi” olduğu, şirketlerin “kurucu yatırımcıları” oldukları ve “mali desteklerinin devam ettiğini” yazıyor.

En güçlü kanıt ise Arif Arif’e Savarona skandalından 18 ay sonra Tevfik Arif’in iş ortaklarından birinden gelen e-postada bulunuyor: “Merhaba Arif, Fettah ve baban arasında imzalanmış Rixos belgelerini gönderiyorum” yazılı e-postanın ekinde iki adet sözleşme bulunuyor. 2006 yılında Tevfik Arif ve Fettah Tamince tarafından imzalanmış ‘Declaration and Undertaking’ [Beyan ve Taahhüt] ve ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)’ [Mutabakat Anlaşması]. 

Ağustos 2006 tarihli beyanda Rixos ve Sembol şirketleri için İngiliz Virjin Adaları’nda yeniden yapılandırılmadan bahsediliyor. Belge aynı zamanda Tamince’nin Rixos ve Sembol de dahil olmak üzere altı şirkette ve Rixos’a bağlı diğer dört şirkette Arif adına hisseleri olduğunu gösteriyor.

Tamince’nin beyanına göre: “Hisseler resmi olarak doğrudan ya da dolaylı olarak benim, ailemin ve hissedarı olduğumuz diğer şirketlerin adına kayıtlı olsa da, Tevfik Arif Rixos ve Sembol hisselerinin %50’sinin gerçek hak sahibidir.”

Beyan şöyle devam ediyor: “Arif’in hisselerinin benim adıma kayıtlı olmasının sebebi, Tevfik Arif ve benim aramdaki gizli ilişkidir ve amaç her zaman Arif’in hisselerini Tevfik Arif adına benim tutmam olmuştur.”

Mutabakat Anlaşması’nda ise Virjin Adaları merkezli olacak yeniden yapılandırma için yatırımlara planlayacak bir komite kurulmasına karar veriliyor. Şirket komitesinde yer alacak beş kişinin adı veriliyor: Tevfik Arif, Fettah Tamince, Rixos Yönetim Kurulu Başkan Yardımcısı avukat Mutlu Şimayli ve Salford Capital Partners şirketinden Eugene Jaffe. Salford, Londra merkezli bir yatırım şirketi. 90’ların alüminyum savaşlarında önemli figürler olan Gürcü oligark Badri Patarkatsishvili ve Boris Berezovsky tarafından kurulduğu biliniyor.

Bu arada, sızdırılan belgeler Arif ailesinin 2010 ve 2011 yıllarında adını daha sonra Platon Elenin olarak değiştiren oligark Berezovsky’ye “kişisel harcamalarına yardımcı olmak” için toplamda sekiz milyon avro borç verdiğini gösteriyor. 

Tamince ve Arif’in ortaklığı 1999 yılında Antalya Labada Otel’e yapılan yatırımla başladı. Sermaye Tevfik Arif’ten geldi. Tamince daha önce bu yatırımın üç milyon dolar kadar olduğunu beyan etmişti. Tamince bu tarihlerde halihazırda iş dünyasına girmiş ve Antalya’da yabancılara lüks villa pazarlıyordu. Bu ortaklıkla beraber turizm sektörüne hızlı bir giriş yapmış oldu. Labada Otel’in inşaatı aynı zamanda Tamince’nin otelin mimarı Aytekin Gültekin’le tanışmasına ve akabinde Sembol İnşaat’ın kurulmasına da vesile olmuş oldu.

2001’de ayrıca Tamince ve Tevfik Arif mücevher ithalat/ihracat şirketi olan Sardes Mücevherat Ticaret A.Ş’yi kurdular. Bu şirketle ilgili vergi kaçırmak için sahte fatura düzenlendiği iddiaları ortaya atılmış, Tamince iddiaları reddetmişti.

Rixos’un yönetim kurulu üyelerinden biri de Ukraynalı İgor Gumenyuk. Gumenyuk’un Shaktar Donetsk futbol takımının da sahibi olan Ukrayna’nın en zenginlerinden Rinat Akhmetov’un iş ortağı olduğu biliniyor. Akhmetov’un servetinin organize suçtan geldiği iddiaları medyada hep öne çıkan konulardan ancak Akhmetov bu iddiaları hep reddetti.

Arif Arif’in Erdoğan’la yanyana durduğu fotoğraf 14 Eylül 2012’de Ukrayna’da gerçekleşen 9. Yalta Konferansı’ndan. Arif Ukrayna’ya konferansın organizatörü Viktor Pinchuk tarafından davet edilmiş. Pinchuk Ukrayna’nın en büyük çelik fabrikasının satışı sırasında Akhmetov’la ortak olmuş ve fabrikanın satışına yolsuzluk iddiaları karışmıştı. Pinchuk aynı zamanda Ukrayna eski başkanı Leonid Kuchma’nın kızı Olena Kuchma’yla evli.

Tevfik Arif’in Nazarbayev’le arası çok iyi olan Kazak üçlüsüyle sürdürdüğü sıkı ilişkileri, şirketlerin gizli ortağı Arif’in Sembol ve Rixos’un Kazakistan’daki ihaleleri kolaylıkla kazanmasına yardımcı olduğu olasılığını akıllara getiriyor. Kendisini ‘Erdoğan aşığı’ olarak tanımlayan Tamince’nin de aynı şekilde Arif ailesinin Türkiye’deki bağlantılarını kuvvetlendiriyor olması ihtimal dışı bir durum değil.

Tamince’nin 2010 yılında Tevfik Arif’in olayların merkezinde olduğu Savarona baskını sırasında da adı geçiyor. Savcılık iddianamesine göre 27 Nisan’da, Arif’e yakın bir isim olan ve Arif’in Tamince’yle kurduğu Sardes mücevher firmasına sonradan ortak olarak giren Gündüz Akdeniz, Tevfik Arif’e polisin fuhuş planlarından haberi olduğuyla ilgili telefon açıyor: 

“İki ya da üç gün önce Fettah Bey İstanbul’a geldi ve Vakıf (Arif)’le erkek erkeğe konuşup anlattı,” diyor Akdeniz ve polisin telefonları “bir iki yıldır” dinlediğini söylüyor. Davaya dahil olan avukatlardan biri adı geçen Fettah Bey’in Fettah Tamince olduğunu teyit etti. İddiaları sorduğumuzda Tamince bize “Bahsi geçen Gündüz Akdeniz kişisiyle bir ilişkim ya da iletişimim yoktur,” dedi.

Tamince, Tevfik Arif’le olan iş ilişkisini de reddetti ve sorularımıza “Tevfik Arif’le bir ortaklığım yoktur ve hissedarı olduğum şirketlerde Tevfik Arif’in herhangi bir hissesi ya da ortaklığı yoktur,” diye yanıt verdi.

Tevfik Arif ve Tamince’nin Türkiye’de otelcilik ve inşaat faaliyetlerini başlattığı yıl, Arif ailesi bir yandan da Amerika’da da emlak işine girdi.

Yeni yatırımın adını Bayrock Capital koydular ve New York’un en pahalı caddelerinden Fifth Avenue’deki Trump Towers’da ofis tuttular.

Tevfik Arif, Bayrock’un başına Burak Yeneroğlu’nu getirdi. Yeneroğlu ve Tevfik Miami’de karşılıklı lüks villalarda oturuyorlar. Yeneroğlu ayrıca Gülen organizasyonu olduğu bilinen Turkic-American Alliance’la da yakından ilişkili. Belgelere göre Yeneroğlu, Obama’nın seçim kampanyası sırasında eski başkan için 652 bin dolar bağış toplamış.

Yeneroğlu’yla beraber Bayrock’a eski hükümlü ve borsacı Felix Sater de direktör olarak alındı.

Arif’in iş yaptığı bir çok kişi gibi Sater’in de geçmişi oldukça renkli. 1991’de başka bir borsacıyı New York’ta bir barda yüzünden yaraladığı için bir sene hapis yatmıştı.

Amerikan Yüksek Mahkemesi belgelerine göre hapisten çıktıktan sonra Sater, Rus ve La Cosa Nostra mafyalarıyla beraber hisse senedi dolandırıcılığı yaptı. Mahkeme belgelerine göre bu yolla yatırımcıları 40 milyon dolar dolandırdı. 1998 yılında dolandırıcılık ve haraç kesmekten ikinci kez mahkum edildi.

Ama Sater’in iki kez yargılanması iş hayatının sonunu getirmemişti. Mahkumiyet kararından sonra, FBI ve New York Eyalet Savcısı Loretta Lynch’le bir anlaşma yaptı. Rus mafyasındaki iş ortakları hakkında savcı için bilgi toplayacak ve bunun karşılığında hakkındaki mahkumiyet kararları bankalardan ve yatırımcılardan gizli tutulacaktı.

Amerikan Yüksek Mahkemesi’ne göre bu anlaşma Sater’in “mahkumiyetini takip eden on yıl boyunca bir milyar dolarlık zarar veren suç işlemeye devam etmesine” sebep oldu. Bu zaman dilimi Bayrock’ta çalıştığı süreyi de kapsıyor. Bu arada daha da ilginci, Felix Sater 2000’lerin ortasında Rixos ve Sembol şirketlerinin danışmanlığını da yaptı.

Sater’in suç kariyeri Bayrock, Rixos, Sembol ve Arif ailesi için çok da büyük bir sorun teşkil etmiş gibi gözükmüyor.

2007 yılında Real Estate Weekly’e verdiği röportajda Tevfik Arif, başarısının etrafına doğru insanları toplamaktan kaynaklandığını anlatmıştı. Bu kişilerden biri de yeni seçilen Amerikan başkanı Donald Trump’tı. Trump için Arif şöyle demişti: “Bize en başından beri çok yardımcı oldu ve bizim için bazı kapıları açtı. İlişkimizin gücü şuradan geliyor: biz en iyi olduğumuz işi yapıyoruz ve bu konuda oldukça aktifiz, Trump da en iyi yaptığı işi yapıyor.”

2005 yılında Bayrock ve Trump birlikte inşaat projeleri üzerinde çalışmaya başladılar. Bunlardan en prestijlisi 2010 yılında New York’ta tamamlanan 440 milyon dolarlık 46 katlı ‘rezidans otel’ Trump SoHo projesiydi. Binada ev sahibi olan çoğu kişinin Rus mafyasıyla ilişkisi olduğu söyleniyor.

Bu, projenin ortaklarına bakıldığında çok da şaşırtıcı bir durum değil. Trump-Bayrock ortaklığına Sapir Organization da dahil olmuştu. Şirketin sahibi ‘Milyarder taksici’ lakaplı Sapir Tamir’di. Tamir, 70’lerin ortalarında Sovyetler Birliği’nden Amerika’ya göç etmiş ve takisicilik yapmaya başlamıştı. Çok kısa bir süre sonra Broadway’de elektronik dükkanı açtı.

Tamir’in serveti hızla arttı. İddialara göre bunun sebebi, iş ortağı Sam Kislin’in Amerika’daki Rus mafyasıyla olan bağlantıları ve KGB tarafından desteklenmeleriydi. Sapir Tamir 2014 yılında öldüğünde çoğu New York’ta olmak üzere toplam 1.4 milyar dolar değerinde mülk sahibiydi.

Bayrock’ın kanunla burun buruna gelmesi çok uzun sürmedi. 2009 yılında Bayrock eski finans müdürü Jody Kriss; Bayrock, Tevfik Arif, Sapir Tamir ve Felix Sater’e dava açtı. Kriss’in iddiasına göre Bayrock Group mafyadan farksız yöntemlerle milyon dolarları zimmetine geçirmiş, Amerikan vergi otoritelerini dolandırmış ve işkence ve ölüm tehditleriyle şantaj yapmıştı: 

“Bayrock meşru emlak işleri de yürütüyor ancak işlerin büyük çoğunluğu ağırlıklı ve gizli olarak mafya tarafından yönetiliyor. Arif, Sater ve Schwarz [Bayrock’un avukatı], şirketi yıllar boyunca devam eden ve dolandırıcılık, vergi kaçakçılığı, kara para aklama, rüşvet, komplo, şantaj, zimmete para geçirme suçlarının da işlendiği bir düzende işlettiler.”

Kriss’in şikayet dilekçesine göre Tevfik, Bayrock şirketini parasının asıl kaynağını, yani ailesinin Kazakistan’daki krom rafinerisini “saklamak için bir mecra” olarak kullanıyordu.

90’ların kanlı doğal kaynak ve maden savaşlarından yıllar sonra, Sapir ve Kislin gibi isimleri Tevfik Arif’in çocuklarının düğün davet listesinde görmek mümkün. Davet edilen isimler arasında Kazak üçlüsü, Musa Bazhaev’in ailesi, Reuben kardeşler, Telman İsmailov, Bilunov ve daha bir çok oligark ve politikacı var.

Mashkevich’in eski asistanının EIC partnerlerinden Belçika gazetesi Le Soir’la anonim olarak yaptığı röportaja göre, bu misafirlerin çoğu “mafya, yüzde yüz.”  

Arif ailesinin, çocuklarının düğünleri için hazırladığı davetiye listeleri oldukça ilginç: davetiyeler Sovyet dünyasının vahşi oligarklarıyla Türkiye’nin güç kazanan isimlerini bir araya getiriyor. Kutlamalara Sıtkı Ayan, Fettah Tamince ve Tayyip Erdoğan da karısıyla beraber çağrılıyor.

Doyen Group bayrağı altında 2011 yılında Arif ailesinin faaliyetlerini resmiyete döktüğü yerin Türkiye olması da tüm bu bağlantılar göz önüne alındığında tesadüf değil gibi görünüyor.

> ÜÇÜNCÜ BÖLÜM: Boğaz'a nazır: Doyen'in Türkiye şirketleri ve bağlantıları

Football Leaks'le sızdırılan verilerin merkezindeki Arif ailesi ve Doyen Group kimlerden oluşuyor, sermayeleri nereden geliyor ve bağlantıları kimler?

Kazak iş adamı Tevfik Arif, 30 Mart 2013’te Katar kraliyet ailesinin gönlünü almak için kibar bir mektup yazdı: “İstanbul’da buluşamadığımız için özür dilemek amacıyla sizlere yazıyorum. Oğlum Arif neler olduğunu anlattı, olayların gidişatı dolayısıyla çok büyük hayal kırıklığına uğradım ve üzüldüm.”

Tevfik Arif’in bu mektubu yazma sebebi, iki hafta öncesinde gerçekleşen ancak planlandığı gibi gitmeyen bir tanışma toplantısıydı. Katar kraliyetinin yatırım şirketi Qatar Investment & Projects Development Holding Co (QIPCO) yöneticileri İstanbul’a gelmişti. Akıllarında Türkiye’de bir kaç milyar dolarlık yatırım yapmak vardı.

QIPCO’yu Türkiye’ye davet eden ise Arif ailesinin Londra merkezli Doyen Capital ve Doyen Sports şirketlerini yöneten, Tevfik Arif’in 27 yaşındaki oğlu Arif Arif’ti. Arif Efendi olarak da bilinen Arif Arif, Katarlılara Türk bakanlık yetkilileri ve iş adamlarıyla üst düzey görüşmeler ayarlayacağına dair söz vermişti.

Ancak Katarlı yetkililer özellikle bir görüşmeyi dört gözle bekliyorlardı: Doyen, onları o zamanın başbakanı Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’la toplantı masasına oturtabilir miydi?

Arif Arif haftalar boyunca Katarlılarla Erdoğan’ı görüştürmek için toplantı ayarlamaya çalıştı ancak başarılı olamadı. Kraliyet yetkilileri başbakanla görüşme umuduyla Türkiye’ye kadar gelmiş ancak toplantının ayarlanamadığını öğrenmişlerdi.

Duruma çok sinirlendiler. Hatta ortalık o kadar gergindi ki Tevfik Arif Londra’daki hasta yatağından kalkıp durumu yatıştırmak için İstanbul’a geldiğinde Katarlılar kendisini görmeyi reddetti.

Tevfik Arif de daha sonra yazdığı mektubunda talihsizliğin nedenlerini açıklamaya çalıştı. “[Oğlum Arif’i] Başbakanla görüşmeye gittiğimde hep yanımda götürürüm. Bu sefer tek başına gidince başbakanın ofisinde çok iyi karşılamamışlar. Buna büyük ihtimalle yaşının gençliği ve benim yanında olmamam sebep oldu.”

İş adamı bunu gösteriş yapmak için yazmamıştı. O zaman 49 yaşında olan Tevfik’in dünyanın her yerinde güçlü bağlantıları vardı.

Doyen Grup’un mimarı olan Kazak-Türk aile Arifler’in bulanık işleri Football Leaks verilerinden çıktı. Doyen şirketlerinin yaptığı anlaşmalar ve yazışmalar, sızdırılan verilerin tam göbeğinde bulunuyor.

Milyonlarca e-posta, anlaşma, yazışma ve Doyen Grup’un şirket belgeleri, 90’ların başında Kazakistan’ın enerji ve doğal kaynaklar sektöründen doğan multi-milyonluk küresel bir iş ağının ayrıntılarını ortaya çıkarıyor.

Kazakistan’dan gelen ve gelirken devlet başkanları, oligarklar ve türlü mafyatik kişilere bulaşan bu sermaye, Doyen’in Avrupa, Afrika, Amerika ve Türkiye’ye açılmasını sağladı.

Arif ailesinin faaliyetlerinin merkezi Türkiye. Ailenin ülkedeki gücü, çok kişi bilmese de oldukça fazla ve Erdoğan’ın yakınındakiler de dahil olmak üzere geniş bir ağ üzerinden yürüyor.

Araştırma derinleştikçe, Football Leaks’in sadece futboldan ibaret olmadığı da ortaya çıkmış oluyor.

Yıllar boyunca farkedilmeden çok büyük işlerin altına imzasını atan Arif ailesi için 2010’daki Savarona fuhuş baskını tam anlamıyla bir skandaldı.

28 Eylül 2010’da Savarona yatı jandarma tarafından basılmış ve Doğu Avrupa’dan getirilen ‘model’lerle seks partisi düzenlediği anlaşılmıştı. Tevfik Arif’in yanı sıra yatta başka iş adamları da vardı.

Savarona baskınından aylar önce konuyla ilgili ihbar alan polis, Tevfik Arif’in Türkiye’deki bağlantılarının telefonlarını dinlemeye başladı. The Black Sea’nin elde ettiği savcılık iddianamesine göre polis, Arif ve çevresindekilerin telefonlarını 2010 Mart ayında Rixos Belek’te en küçüğü 15 yaşında olan kızlarla grup seks partileri düzenlediğinde dinlemeye başlıyor. Dinlemeler Savarona’daki parti düzenlenirken de devam ediyor.

Eylül ayındaki baskında Tevfik Arif tutuklanmıştı. Türkiye’deki bir çok kişi için bu, 18 yaşından küçük kızların fuhuşa zorlandığı bir çeteyi yönetmekle suçlanan Kazak iş adamı Arif’in adını duydukları ilk olaydı.

Savcılık soruşturmanın üstüne gitmekte kararlıydı. Arif için ise bu tür bir şöhret bir hayli sıkıntı vericiydi. Baskın, Arif’in milyoner arkadaşlarını basının karşısına çıkarmıştı.

Yatta Arif’le beraber Rusya’daki Alliance Group’un başkanı Rus-Çeçen iş adamı Musa Bazhaev de vardı. Rus medyasına göre, Bazhaev’in Çeçen ailesi 90’lı yıllarda suç örgütlerinin Orta Asya’nın doğal kaynakları üzerinde söz sahibi olmak için başlattıkları mafya savaşlarının bir parçasıydı. Yatta ayrıca, ‘Kazak üçlüsü’ olarak bilinen Alexander Mashkevich, Patokh Chodiev ve Alijan İbragimov da vardı.

Bu üçlü, milyar dolarlık maden şirketi Eurasian Natural Resources Company’nin (ENRC) sahibi ve Kazakistan başkanı Nursultan Nazarbayev’le çok sıkı bağları var.

Nazarbayev'in de damadı olan kardeşi Zia'nın ölümü üzerine Alliance Group'un başına geçmiş olan Bazhaev, Savarona skandalının patlak verdiği sıralarda Mashkevich’i bir petrol anlaşması için ikna etmeye çalışıyordu. Anlaşmanın Alliance Group ve Güney Afrika başkanı Jacob Zuma’nın yeğeni Khulubuse Zuma sahip olduğu CapFox Congo şirketi arasında olması planlanıyordu.

İlginç olan, yatı kiralayan kişi olmasına rağmen Avrasya Yahudi Birliği eski başkanı Mashkevich, Türk yetkililer tarafından sorguya alınmadı. Bazhaev, Chodiev ve İbragimov da sorgudan kurtuldu.

Tevfik Arif 2011 yılında tüm suçlardan beraat ettiğinde, Doyen şirketi Arif için Bell Pottinger ve Schillings diye iki İngiliz halkla ilişkiler şirketiyle anlaştı. İmaj temizlemek işlerin yürümesi için önemliydi.

 ‘Kazak üçlüsü’ ise Arif ailesinin hem geçmiş hem de gelecek başarılarında oldukça önemli bir rol oynuyor. Aralarında 90’lı yılların komünizm sonrası Kazakistan’ına kadar uzanan 20 yıllık garip bir arkadaşlık öyküsü var. 

Doyen’in arkasında adı medyada çok geçmeyen dört erkek kardeş var: Refik Arif, Rüstem Arif, Vakıf Arif ve asıl adı Tofic Arifov olan Tevfik Arif. İlk üç kardeş hakkında elde çok fazla bilgi yok ama kayıtlara göre Tevfik, Mayıs 1953’te Kazakistan Cambul’da doğdu ve Moskova’da bir üniversitenin uluslararası ilişkiler bölümünden mezun oldu. Arif, 70’lerin sonunda Sovyet Ticaret Bakanlığı’nda Otel Yönetimi Birimi’nden sorumlu olarak çalıştı.

Komünizmin sonu geldiğinde Sovyet devletine ait mülkler teker teker özelleşirken, Tevfik de kendini özel sektörde buldu. Savarona davası sırasında kendi geçmişini şöyle anlatmıştı: “Enerji sektöründe, kimya sektöründe ve metalurji sektöründe çalıştım. Rusya’da kömür, Kazakistan’da bakır üretiyordum. Orada kömür olmadığı için üretim de yoktu. Ben de bunun organizasyonunu yaptım.” 1991’de Bakanlık’tan emekli olduğunda Speciality Chemicals Trading Co adını verdiği kendi özel işletmesini kurdu ve “krom, özel metaller ve hammadde” ticaretine atıldı.

Çok geçmeden Tevfik’in ticaret hayatı David ve Simon Reuben kardeşlerle kesişti. Reuben kardeşler Hint asıllı ve Londra’da yaşıyorlar. Trans World Group adlı şirketleri vasıtasıyla Orta Asya’nın doğal kaynaklarının tekelleşme sürecine acımasız bir hırsla dahil oldular. Eldeki belgelere göre Tevfik, aileye Kazakistan’daki “aracı”ları olarak dahil oluyor.

Trans World 1991’de Reubenler ve Özbekistan doğumlu İsrailli oligarklar Lev ve Michael Cherney arasında yapılan işbirliği sonucu kuruldu. Şirket 80’lerin sonunda Chernoy ailesini işe alan Ukraynalı girişimci Semyon ‘Sam’ Kislin’in ithalat-ihracat firması Trans Commodities’in devamıydı.

70’lerin başında Sovyet başkan Brezhnev’in Rus Yahudiler için oluşturduğu çıkış-vizesi programı dahilinde ABD’ye göç eden Kislin ailesinin ve özellikle Sam Kislin’in adı bir çok FBI ve Amerikan gizli servis belgesinde geçiyor. Raporlara göre Kislin, New York’taki Rus Solntsevskaya mafyasına bağlıydı ve Yaponchik mafya grubunun acımasızlığıyla bilinen üyesi Vyacheslav Ivankov’la yakın ilişkileri vardı.

Trans World’u kurduktan bir kaç yıl sonra Chernoylar ve Reuben kardeşler şirketi doğal kaynaklar konusunda milyar dolarlık bir yatırım haline dönüştürdüler. Şirket çok kısa zamanda dünyanın üçüncü en büyük alüminyum satıcısı haline geldi. Daha da yükselmek için şaibeli ve pis işlere girdiler.

Büyük ihtimalle tam bu sıralarda Arif ailesinin yolu Kazak üçlüsüyle kesişti. Belçika gazetesi Le Soir’la yaptığı bir röportajda Patokh Chodiev; kendisinin, Mashkevich’in ve İbragimov’un Reubenlerle ilk 1992 baharında tanıştığını anlatmıştı. O sıralarda meşhur üçlü, Kazak hükümet yetkililerin de yardımıyla, İngiliz Virjin Adaları’nda kurdukları Kazakhstan Mineral Resources Corporation şirketi üzerinden uluslararası pazara bakır satıyordu. Bu işten milyarlar kazandılar.

Ortak çıkar fırsatı gören Kazak üçlüsü ve Reuben’ler, güçlerini birleştirmeye karar verdi. Virjin Adaları’nda aralarında KazChrome’un da olduğu bir çok şirket kurdular. 1961’de doğan Refik Arif’in 1991-1999 yılları arasında Kazak Endüstri Bakanlığı’nda üst düzey yönetici ve ‘fosfor ve demirli alaşıma yatırım yapmak isteyen yabancılar için ilk işlemleri yapan kişi’ olması Reuben ailesinin ve Kazak üçlüsünün işini daha da kolaylaştıracaktı.

Sovyetler dağıldığı sırada oligarklar arasında kapışılan devlet malları ‘gangster kapitalizmi’ adı verilen dönemi başlattı. Bu dönemde iş dünyası ve mafya çoğu zaman iç içe geçti. Yaşanan olaylar suç örgütlerinin kurulmasına yol açtı ve hatta ölümcül derecede tehlikeli bir hale geldi. 1990’ların “Alüminyum savaşları” oldukça kanlıydı. Reuben ve Chernoy gibi sanayiciler alüminyum sektöründeki rakiplerini ortadan kaldırmak için kiralık katil tutmakla suçlandılar.

Özellikle de alüminyum sektöründe yapılan anlaşmalar, aralarında Boris Berezovsky, Oleg Deripaska ve Roman Abramoviç’in de olduğu yeni nesil oligark grubunu da doğurmuş oldu.

90’ların sonunda, Sovyet malları için başlatılan savaş sokaklardan mahkeme koridorlarına taşındı. Özellikle de Londra’da görülen bu davalar, Sovyet ve Rus gizli servislerinin, üst düzey devlet yetkililerinin ve mafya üyelerinin aralarındaki anlaşmaları da gün yüzüne çıkarmış oldu. Tevfik Arif bu yıllarda, Sovyetlerin vahşi girişimcilerini ve devlet gizli servislerini bir araya getiren bu ağa üç taraftan dahil oldu: Trans World ve doğal kaynaklar, Amerika ve Batı Avrupa’daki mafya örgütleri ve bu kâr ağına hizmet etmesi için kurulan küresel finans yapıları.

Ancak görülen o ki, o zaman 40 yaşlarında olan Tevfik Arif kanlı işlere bulaşmaktan hoşlanmamış. Tevfik’in oğlu Arif yazdığı bir e-postada babasının ‘iş hayatı organize suçla karışmaya başladığında’ Kazakistan’ı terk ettiğini anlatıyor.

Tevfik Arif 1993’te Türkiye’ye taşındı ve Alset Dış Ticaret adında bir mücevher şirketi kurdu. Bir yıl içinde Türk pasaportu aldı ve Tofic Arifov olan adını Tevfik Arif olarak Türkçeleştirdi. Tevfik’in Türkiye’deki ilk yıllarıyla ilgili elde güvenilir veri bulmak pek mümkün değil. Ancak Savarona davası sırasında kendi anlattığına göre, Türkiye’de mücevher ve turizm sektörlerinde çalıştı ve kısa bir süre sonra karısı ve çocuklarıyla beraber Amerika’ya göç etti. Bu Amerika macerası, en sonunda onu Amerika’nın yeni başkanı Donald Trump’la bir araya getirecekti.

1990’ların sonunda Arif ailesi hem Türkiye’de hem de dünyada iş çevrelerinde adını duyurmaya başlamıştı. Ailenin dünyaya açılması, Kazakistan’dan gelen para kaynağı ve Kazak üçlüsüyle olan bağları sayesinde gerçekleşmişti. 90’ların ortalarında Arif ailesi, Kazakistan’ın Aktyubinsk bölgesinde bulunan Aktyubinsk Krom Kimyasalları Fabrikası’nı (ACCP) satın aldı. ACCP o dönem hâlâ Endüstri Bakanlığı’nda çalışan Refik Arif adına kayıt edildi. Fabrika, ülkede krom bazlı kimyasal üreten tek işletme. 2002 NATO Bilim Komitesi raporuna göre fabrika, bölgedeki içme suyuna zehirli atıklarını boşaltıp suyu içilmez hale getirmekten sorumlu.

ACCP’yle aynı şehirde KazChrome da bulunuyor. KazChrome, Kazak üçlüsünün Reubenlerle 90’ların başında yaptığı işbirliğinin yarattığı şirketlerden ve şu anda ENRC tarafından yönetiliyor. KazChrome bölgedeki en büyük krom madenini işletiyor ve Ariflerin gözbebeği ACCP’nin faaliyetleri için elzem olan krom cehverini şirkete tedarik ettiği düşünülüyor.

Bu karmaşık ve gizli iş dünyası Arif ailesinin önce Türkiye’ye, daha sonra Amerika’ya açılmasını; nihayetinde de Avrupa'ya ve hatta Avrupa futbol piyasasını yönetmeye el atmasını finanse etmiş oluyor.

·       Doyen’in Türkiye şirketi GGK’nın Kazak yetkililere vereceği rüşvet ile ilgili konuşmalar

·       Doyen’in Türkiye’deki kömür şirketi Kamelot ve Türkiye’de vergi ödemeden offshore’a aktardığı milyonlar

·       Arif ailesini Doyen’in ardındaki isim olarak veren Bloomberg haberi ve ailenin ‘Kazaklar bizi mahvedecek’ korkusu

2011 yılına kadar Doyen Group adı altında faaliyet gösteren firmaların bir kısmı biliniyordu, bir kısmı ise hiç gün yüzüne çıkmamıştı. Doyen’in sahibi olarak da Arif kardeşlerden yalnızca birinin adı geçiyordu. Arif ailesinin, açıkça ya da gizli olarak, Türkiye, İngiltere ve Amerika’da işletmeleri ve şirketleri vardı. Bunun yanı sıra aile bireylerinin adlarına kayıtlı İngiliz Virjin Adaları, Kıbrıs ve Panama’da kurulu onlarca offshore şirketi bulunuyordu. Doyen’in yatırımcılar için sunduğu belgeler aile şirketinin faaliyetlerinin ‘Arif ailesi ve onların yakın iş ortaklarının ortak mülkiyet çıkarlarıyla bağlantılı’ olduğunu anlatıyor.

Baba Tevfik Arif, Savarona davası sırasında mahkemeye verdiği beyanda Türkiye’ye "15 milyar dolarlık yatırım" yaptığını söylemişti. Rakamlar ve yatırımlar bu denli yüksek olunca, 2011’deki Savarona davasından beraati sonrasında aile şirketlerinde daha az görünür bir rol oynamak istemesi kaçınılmazdı.

Doyen’in Türkiye faaliyetleri kağıt üzerinde Refik Arif, Arif Arif ve ‘kuzenler’ Polat ve Malik Ali üzerinden yürütülecekti. Pratikte ise çok az şey değişti. Asıl sermaye Curacao’da kurulu Ravana Aile Vakfı’ndan gelmeye devam ediyordu. İşler de hala Arif ailesi tarafından yürütülüyordu.

Arif Arif aile şirketinin işleyişini 2013 tarihli bir e-postada şöyle anlatıyor:

"Ailenin başı amcam Rüstem Arif. Bizim kültürümüzde ailenin başı ailenin en yaşlı üyesi olur. Rüstem, babamın [Tevfik Arif] büyük ağabeyi.  Babam kendi çapında oldukça başarılı bir girişimci (otelcilik, inşaat ve emlak alanında) olsa da, küçük kardeşi Refik Arif aile şirketinin ana karakteri. Refik’in itibarı çok kuvvetli (medyada adı hiç yer almadı, hiçbir şeyle suçlanmadı). Babam, Donald Trump gibi kişilerle çok dikkat çeken turizm ve emlak işlerine girdiği için medyada daha çok bilinen bir isim."

Aile şirketleri yeniden yapılandırıldığında aile kendisi için yeni bir marka yarattı: Doyen Group. Bundan sonrasında ise daha ziyade hammadde, inşaat, maden ve spor yatırımlarına yüklendiler.

Bu yatırımların en bilineni Londra merkezli Doyen Sports. Doyen Sports ailenin küçük oğlu Arif Arif’in tek başına kalkıştığı ilk yatırımdı ve çok kısa sürede David Beckham, Usain Bolt ve Boris Becker gibi sporcuların imaj haklarını yönetmeye başladı.

Şirketin ilgilendiği asıl yatırım alanı ise futbol ve tartışmalı Üçüncü Şahıs Mülkiyeti’ydi (TPO).

Doyen Sports’un başarısında Arif Arif’in iş ortağı ve şirketin CEO’su Portekizli işadamı Nelio Lucas’ın payı büyük. Lucas’ın futbol yönetimi becerilerini ünlü menajer Pini Zahavi’den öğrendiği biliniyor.

Doyen Sports’un müşterileri arasında Neymar, Xavi Hernandez ve Monaco’nun starı Falcao da bulunuyor.

European Investigative Collaborations’ın araştırmaları Doyen Sports’un şaibeli ‘komisyonlar’ için offshore hesapları kullandığını ve ayrıca da Arif ailesinin Miami’deki evinde Real Madrid başkanına rüşvet olarak hayat kadınları tutup seks partisi düzenleme planlarını da ortaya çıkarmıştı.

Nelio spor dünyasına girmesi için Arif Arif’e yardım etmiş olsa da tüm bunların gerçekleşmesini sağlayan kişi Arif’in amcası Refik’ti.  Refik Arif, Londra açılacak Doyen şirketi için yeğenine 19 milyon dolar borç verdi. Yani Doyen’in yeni yatırımlarının sermayesi yine Kazakistan’ın hammadde madenlerinden geliyordu.

Londra’da lüks bir hayat sürüp milyon sterlinlik bir yatırım şirketi işletmesine rağmen kağıt üstünde Arif Arif, Doyen’den aylık sadece 1000 sterlin maaş alıyor gibi görünüyor. Arif ailesinin batı Londra’nın süper lüks Chelsea bölgesindeki Carlyle Meydanı’nda 20 milyon sterlin değerinde evleri bulunuyor.

2009’da Refik Arif tarafından satın alınan evin emlak ve veraset vergisi ödememek için ailenin bir çok dolambaçlı yola başvurduğu da sızdırılan belgelerde ortaya çıkıyor.

2014 yılında gönderilen e-postalardan anlaşıldığı üzere evin mülkiyeti İngiliz Virjin Adaları’ndaki bir şirketten Guernsey’deki bir ‘trust’ hesabına aktarılıyor. Böylece evin asıl sahibi gizlenmiş oluyor ve gerçek kişiler ev sahibi olarak görünmediği için devlet kurumlarının ev üzerinden vergi kesmesi engellenmiş oluyor.  

Beşiktaş’ta boğaz manzaralı bir villa sahibi olan Arif ailesi, Türkiye’de Rixos ve Sembol yatırımlarının ötesinde genişlemeye karar veriyor.

Doyen’in Türkiye’deki işleri GGK İç ve Dış Ticaret Ltd ve TGG Construction üzerinden yürütülüyor. TGG Construction 2011 yılında kurulmuş ve Şişli’de ofisleri var. İnternet sitelerinde bir çok Sembol ve Rixos projesine dahil olduklarını belirtiyorlar. TGG’yi yöneten kişi ise daha önce Rixos’un başkan yardımcılığını yapan ve Rixos’la Sembol’un Libya faaliyetlerini yürüten Güney İkiz.

Güney’in gönderdiği e-postalar Doyen Group’un rüşvet vermek konusunda ne kadar rahat olduğunu da ortaya çıkarıyor. Kazakistan’daki Kunaev Sokak rezidans inşaatından bahsederken Tevfik ve Arif Arif’e gönderdiği bir e-postada şöyle diyor:

"Gerekli izinlerin ücretlerine gelecek olursak, sözleşmede de gördüğünüz gibi, izinlerin alınması için gereken ekstra maliyeti yazmadık.  Çünkü Ali Savcı [emlakçı] tam olarak ne kadar ödememiz gerektiğini bilmiyor. Yani rüşvet için bir tarife yok demek istiyorum ... Bu oldukça hassas bir konu. A Savcı’yla konuştuğumuz gibi, [şirket sahibi] adına ödeme yapmak istemiyor. Bize tam olarak kime ödeme yapacağımızı söyleyecek."

TGG’nin birkaç kilometre uzağında, Taksim yakınlarında GGK İç ve Dış Ticaret Ltd’nin ofisi var. GKK ilk olarak Arif ailesi İran’la gübre işine girmeye karar verdiğinde kuruluyor ancak daha sonra Doyen’in Türkiye’deki kömür, petrol, uranyum gibi diğer hammade sektörlerine girişini hazırlıyor.

Temrezli Uranyum Projesi’nde de Doyen var. Anatolia Energy şirketinin yüzde 6.5’i Doyen’in Virjin Adaları’nda kurulu Blenham Ventures şirketine ait.

2012 yılında GGK’nın başına Barclays eski bankacısı Timuçin Kaan getiriliyor. Doyen, Türkiye ofisini kurup işletmesi için Kaan’a yıllık 240 bin sterlin maaş ve 180 bin sterlin imza parası ödemeyi kabul ediyor. Kaan maaşının büyük kısmının vergiden muaf offshore hesabına gitmesini istiyor:

"Bu gönderdiğiniz sözleşmeye göre kazandığım her şey üzerinden vergi ödemem gerekecek," diye şikayet ediyor ve ekliyor: "Hatırlarsanız daha ilk günden bunun benim için sorunlu bir durum olduğunu söylemiştim. Elçin Bey’le [Tevfik Arif’in damadı] bir kaç çözüm üzerinde konuşmuştuk. Bunlardan biri aylık maaşımın 5 bin sterlinini sözleşmeye uygun olarak almam ve kalanın offshore’a ya da özel olarak bana gönderilmesiydi."

Daha sonra gönderdiği bir e-postada Kaan, Arif Arif’in asistanından ve Doyen’in Londra’daki avukatından "maaşım ve imza param için vergi açısından uygun" bir sistem kurulmasını istiyor.

Timuçin Kaan, The Black Sea’nin sorularına yanıt vermedi.

Kaan’ın GGK’nın başına geçmesinden kısa bir süre sonra şirket, Rus ve Amerikan kömürünü Türk pazarına satmak için 12.1 milyon dolara İstanbul’da faaliyet gösteren Kamelot Enerji şirketini satın alıyor. Bu para Refik Arif’in şirketi Castello Ltd ve aile vakfı Ravana’dan geliyor.

Kömürü doğrudan satın almaktansa Arifler, Panama’da kurulu şirketleri olan Doyen Natural Resources (DNR)’ı devreye sokuyor. Belgelere göre DNR, kömürü ton başına 180 dolara alıp Kamelot’a üzerine 10 dolar koyup satıyor. Doyen’in kömürü son aşamada ne kadardan sattığı bilinmiyor ancak Kamelot’un şirket kayıtları 2014 ve 2015 yılları için milyonlarca lira zarar gösteriyor.

Ama ilginç olan, Kamelot kömür alıp satmaya ve DNR’a milyonlar ödemeye devam ediyor. Bu milyonların bir kısmı Arif ailesinin diğer offshore şirketlerine aktarılıyor.

2014 yazında Doyen, DNR’ı kapatmak ve Prime Natural Resources adında yeni bir Panama şirketi kurmak istiyor. Ama karşılarına bir sorun çıkıyor. Kamelot’un DNR’dan aldığı kömür için dört milyon dolar borcu bulunuyordu. Şirket kapatılmadan önce borcu ödemek mümkün olamayacağından dolayı GGK’nın bu milyonlarla bir şekilde baş etmesi gerekiyordu. Doyen Capital’ın Londra ofisinde İş Geliştirme Müdürü olarak çalışan Amro Sinjab gönderdiği bir e-postada şöyle diyor: "Sorun şu ki, eğer Kamelot bu parayı şirkette tutarsa büyük ihtimalle Türkiye’de vergi ödemesi gerekecek."

Diğer iş anlaşmalarından da anlaşıldığı üzere Arif ailesinin vergi ödemeye pek tahammülü yok. Dolayısıyla paranın bir an önce Kamelot hesabından çıkarılması lazımdı. Doyen’in Finans Müdürü Nitesh Shah bunun üzerine parayı Arif ailesinin Guernsey şirketi Eristavi’ye aktarmayı öneriyor ama bu tür bir işlemin Panama şirketini kapatan yetkilinin aklına dolandırıcılık ihtimalini getirebileceğinden endişe ediyor. Eristavi’nin hisseleri Arif Arif’in sahibi olduğu Lomise Trust’ta duruyor ve şirket Virtus Trust vekilleri tarafından yönetiliyor.

Shah yardım almak için Luxemburg’da kurulu Maitland Group’tan vergi uzmanı Rupert Worsdale’a yazıyor: "Eristavi’ye paranın gönderilmesi ilk bakışta kolay gibi görünse de bu borcun çok uzun süre hatta belki de hiç ödenmeme ihtimali var. Borç Eristavi’nin hesabında faizsiz şekilde kalabilir ve Eristavi’ye doğrudan hediyeymiş gibi gönderilebilir. Konuyla ilgili düşüncelerini iletirsen çok seviniriz."

Worsdale yardım etmeyi kabul ediyor. Amro ve Shah arasındaki e-postalardan anlaşıldığı üzere vergi uzmanı, paranın Eristavi’ye sermaye katkısı olarak gönderilmesinin en iyi seçenek olduğunu söylüyor.

Böylece 2014 Eylül’ünde DNR’dan Arif Arif’in Lomisa’sına nakit para hediye olarak girmeye başlıyor ve milyonlar Doyen’in kara delik hesaplarında kaybolmuş oluyor. Kamelot kömür alışverişini yeni Panama şirketi Prime Natural Resources’la yapmaya devam ediyor.

DNR’dan Lomisa’ya sadece Kamelot’tan gelen para girmiyor. Virtus Trust’a gönderilen bir mektupta DNR’ın "Lomisa Trust’a 41 milyon dolar hediye olarak gönderdiği’ ve böylece toplam gönderilen rakamın ‘46.1 milyon dolara çıktığını" yazıyor.

Kömürden gelen para gibi, bu para da Eristavi’nin sermayesini artırmak için kullanılıyor.

Aynı zamanlarda gönderilen e-postalar Arifler’in Panama şirketlerini neden kapatmak istediğini ortaya çıkarıyor. DNR, Doyen’in hem Türkiye’deki kömür faaliyetleri hem de şirketler grubunun diğer "kömür, demir cevheri, elektrik, doğalgaz, petrol, uranyum, gübre" faaliyetleri için kullanılıyordu.

2012 yılında Arifler, daha önceki bölümlerde bahsedilen Kazak üçlüsünün Eurasian Natural Resources Company (ENRC)’siyle beraber Zamin Ferrous şirketine yatırım yaptılar. Zamin, Pramod Agarwal tarafından yönetiliyor ve Brezilya’da demir cevheri çıkartıyor. 2015 yılında şirketler birbirine giriyor ve Doyen’in 50 milyon dolarlık yatırımıyla ilgili anlaşmazlıkların da su yüzüne çıktığı uzun bir kanuni süreç başlıyor.

Panama bankalarının kötü itibarı ve İngiltere’de vergi ödeme ihtimallerini de hesaba katınca, DNR’ın kapatılması 2014 yılında Doyen için en önemli iş haline geliyor.

Gönderilen e-postalarda şöyle deniyor: "DNR’ı en kısa zamanda kapatmalıyız ki İngiltere’de vergi ödemek zorunda kalmayalım. Çünkü Zamin’le ilgili olan sözleşmeler Londra ofisinde yapıldı."

Başka bir sebep de büyük ihtimalle bir sene önce yayınlanan bir Bloomberg haberiydi. 2 Temmuz 2013’te Bloomberg’de Doyen Sports’un ardındaki isim olarak ‘Kazak bir aile’yi anlatan bir haber çıktı. Haber hem Tevfik Arif’ten hem de Savarona skandalından bahsediyordu.

Haberden bir gün sonra Arif Arif, İngiltere merkezli halkla ilişkiler üzerinde uzmanlaşmış hukuk bürosu Schillings’in çalışanı Rod Christie-Miller’a bir e-posta gönderdi:

"Biz şöhret sevmiyoruz Rod ve haberde yat olayından bahsediyorlar. Ne yapılabilir bilmiyorum. Bana sorarsan bu pozitif bir haber değil ve şirketi hiçbir şekilde iyi göstermiyor. Bence geçmiş olayları hatırlatarak şirketi daha da kötü gösteriyor. Üçüncü şahıs mülkiyeti konusunu [bu gazeteci] gibi hayvanlar kötü gözle görüyor çünkü işi anlamıyorlar, kimse de oturup anlatmıyor."   

Haberin içeriği aile ve şirket hakkında çok fazla bilgi vermiyordu ama Arif soyadının anılması bile aileyi deliye döndürmeye yetmişti. İngiltere’deki Doyen şirketini kapattılar ve Doyen Meten adı altında Dubai’ye taşıdılar. En azından kağıt üzerinde. Doyen’in Londra ofisini ziyaret eden gazeteciler şirket isminin hâlâ binada yazılı olduğunu gördüler. 

Birbirlerine gönderdikleri mesajlarda, Arif ailesinin göz önünde olmak istememe sebeplerinden birinin de Mashkevich ve diğer ‘aile dostları’yla aralarını bozmamak olduğu anlaşılıyor. Savarona skandalından sonra Tevfik Arif ve Kazak iş ortaklarının arası iyice açılmış gibi görünüyor. Kardeşi Ayla’ya gönderdiği mesajda Arif Arif, "Mashkevich bizle hiç bir bağı olsun istemedi. Kendi kıçını kurtarmak için tüm suçu babama attı," diyor. Ayla şöyle cevap veriyor: "Ama bir yandan da babamın işlerini korumasına yardımcı oluyor."

"O konuda iyi bir arkadaş, babamın başarılı olduğunu görmek istiyor ama kendisinden daha başarılı olsun istemiyor," diye cevap veriyor Arif. 

Aylarca aralarını düzeltmeye çalıştıktan sonra Tevfik Arif ve Mashkevich, Bloomberg haberiyle kendilerini yine medya karşısında buluyorlar.

Arif Arif ortağı Nelio Lucas’a yazıyor: "Yat olayını, başbakanla [Erdoğan] olan ilişkisini, her şeyi yazmışlar...  Doyen markası artık öldü. Kendimi ve işleri bu isimden uzaklaştırmam lazım... Avukatlar bana ‘Baban şirketin ana destekçisi olarak bilindiği için Doyen adı zehirli’ dedi."

Nelio ise Arif’i yatıştırmak için Bloomberg haberinin çok da korkunç olmadığını anlatmaya çalışıyor. Arif ise Nelio’yu işlerin nasıl yürüdüğünü anlamamakla suçluyor:

"En önemlisi Kazakistan meselesi. Bu haberlerin çıkmasına izin veremeyiz yoksa çok büyük sorunlarla karşılaşırız."

"Bana bu meseleyi açıklaman lazım," diye cevap veriyor Nelio.

Arif bunun üstüne daha da sinirleniyor: "Artık bunu kafana sok, durum hiç de komik değil. Kazakistan’dakiler bizi mahvedecek. Eğer işlerimiz, şirketlerimiz ve üst düzey ilişkilerimiz ortaya çıkarsa biteriz."

Arifler’in ne pahasına olursa olsun korumaya çalıştığı ‘üst düzey’ ilişkiler arasında Türk hükümetine yakın bazı iş adamları da var.

·       Arif ailesi Sıtkı Ayan’la iş ortaklığına nasıl girdi?

·       Bu iş ortaklığından çıkan ve Türkmenistan’la İran’dan doğalgaz ve elektrik alımını sağlayan anlaşmalar hangileri?

·       Arif ailesi, Türkmenistan başkanını etkileyerek ihaleleri kazanmak amacıyla için nasıl planlar yaptı?

< ÜÇÜNCÜ BÖLÜM: Boğaz'a nazır: Doyen'in Türkiye şirketleri ve bağlantıları 

Savarona skandalının şok etkisi yarattığı doğru ama bu olay Arifler’in Türkiye’deki anlaşmalarını ve bağlantılarını çok da etkilemişe benzemiyor.

Mirhan Holding’in sahibi ve AKP’den birkaç kez milletvekili adayı olan avukat Ali Demirhan, 2012’de Doyen’in Türkiye’deki danışmanı olarak işe alınıyor. Şirket yazışmalarında Demirhan’dan, Arif ailesinin “yakın arkadaşı ve ortağı” olarak bahsediliyor.

Ali Demirhan, AKP’ye çok yakın bir isim. Tayyip Erdoğan ve bir çok bakanın resmi gezilerinde Demirhan’ı görmek mümkün. Doyen çalışanları, Demirhan’dan bahsederken “30 yıldır Erdoğan’ın politik kariyerini destekleyen biri,” diyor.

Demirhan, Doyen için çalışmaya başlar başlamaz York Düşesi Sarah Ferguson’ın Türkiye’de bulaştığı skandalı çözmek için işe girişiyor.

2008 yılında İngiliz düşes kimliğini gizleyerek İstanbul’da bir yetimhanede gizli kamerayla çekim yapmış ve program İngiltere’de yayınlanmıştı. Sosyal Hizmetler ve Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu Ferguson’a dava açmış, Aile Bakanlığı da davaya müdahil olmuştu. Aile Bakanı Nimet Çubukçu düşese büyük tepki göstermiş ve olayın Türkiye’nin Avrupa Birliği üyeliğine karşı yapılmış bir karalama kampanyası olduğunu söylemişti. Sarah Ferguson, hapis cezası talebiyle yargılanmıştı.

Krizi çözmek için düşes, Londra’daki arkadaşı Arif Arif’e ulaştı. Arif ailesi Ferguson’a yardım etmeyi kabul etti. Doyen avukatları, Ali Demirhan’ın da yardımıyla Başbakan Erdoğan’a gönderilmek üzere Ferguson’un ağzından bir özür mektubu yazdı. Düşes mektubun elden verilmesi için ısrar etti. Mektubun başbakanın eline geçip geçmediği bilinmiyor ancak düşes 2012 yılında tüm suçlamalardan beraat etti.

Demirhan ayrıca Doyen için Türkiye’deki altın yatırımlarını da araştırıyordu. Aynı zamana aileyi bir çok üst düzey isimle bir araya getirdi.

Mart 2012’de Doyen Capital’ın başkan yardımcısı Tevfik Eren’i avukatlığını yaptığı Ali Ağaoğlu’yla tanıştırdı. 

İstinye Masa Restaurant’da gerçekleşen görüşmeden sonra hep birlikte İnönü Stadyum’unda Beşiktaş-Trabzonspor maçını izlemeye gittiler. Doyen’in başkan yardımcısı burada Sadık Albayrak ve Beşiktaş CEO’su Murat Ülgen’le tanıştırıldı.

Eren’in anlattığına göre tanışma faslı oldukça iyi geçmişti. Bu buluşma sırasında Berat Albayrak’la da görüşme ayarlanacağına dair söz aldı.

Ağaoğlu daha sonra Doyen için AKP milletvekili Mikail Arslan, Rixos başkan yardımcısı Güney İkiz, Ata Yatırım başkanı Hakan Ferhatoğlu’yla toplantılar ayarladı.

 Bu üst düzey görüşmeler daha sonra meyvesini verecek ve Doyen, Çalık Holding’le beraber Türkmenistan’daki elektrik anlaşmalarına dahil olacaktı.

Doyen aynı zamanda Som Petrol’ün sahibi Sıtkı Ayan’la da ihalelere girdi. Sıtkı Ayan ve Tayyip Erdoğan’ın oldukça yakın olduğu iyi biliniyor. Söylenenlere göre Ayan, Erdoğan’ı direkt olarak cep telefonundan arayabilen ve ilk ismiyle hitap eden nadir kişilerden biri.

Temmuz 2010’da Ayan’ın ASB Group şirketlerinden Som Petrol, İran’la doğalgaz boru hattı inşaatı için bir milyar avroluk anlaşma yapmıştı. Boru hattı dört yılda inşa edilecek ve İran doğalgazını Türkiye üzerinden Avrupa’ya taşıyacaktı.

Bu tür işlerde çok da deneyimi olmayan ve daha önce bu kadar büyük projelere dahil olmamış Som Petrol’ün böyle bir ihaleyi almış olması şaşkınlıkla karşılanmıştı.

 Hatta dönemin Enerji Bakanı Taner Yıldız o sıralarda boru hattı projesinin ihalesinin kime verileceğinin daha belli olmadığını söyleyerek ortalığı yatıştırmaya çalışmıştı.

Ama sonunda Ayan kazançlı çıktı. Görece küçük şirketler olan ve altyapı inşaatı konusunda hiç deneyimi olmayan ASB Group ve Som Petrol’ün ihalesi Ağustos 2010’da, tam da Savarona partisi sırasında, Bakanlar Kurulu'nda onaylandı. 

Tevfik Arif Savarona davasında insan kaçakçılığı suçlamalarından 2011’de beraat ettikten bir süre sonra Arifler ve Ayan, İran doğalgazı için bir anlaşma imzaladı.

Böylece yeni bir ortaklık kuruldu: Somas Enerji. Somas’ın Türkiye’ye doğalgaz satmak için lisansı vardı ve şirketin %50’sini ASTÜ Doğalgaz Enerji Ticaret Ltd üzerinden Arif ailesinin kontrol etmesine karar verildi. ASTÜ Doğalgaz ise Refik Arif ve yeğeni Malik Ali adına kayıtlı.

Arifler’in Orta Asya’daki bağlantıları düşünüldüğünde, aileyi bu ortaklığa dahil etmek oldukça akıllıcaydı. Sızdırılan Football Leaks verilerinde bulunan sözleşmeye göre Arif ailesi "Türkmenistan, Rusya, Özbekistan, Kazakistan ve Azerbaycan gibi eski Sovyetler Birliği ülkelerindeki doğalgaz tedarikçileriyle yapılan müzakereleri ve pazarlığı yönetecek" ve karşılığında kârın yüzde 20’sini alacaktı.

Sıtkı ve oğlu Bahaddin Ayan ise İran hükümetine doğalgazın Türkiye üzerinden geçirilmesi için lobi yapmakla sorumluydu.

Görünüşe göre Arifler sözünde durdu. Mayıs 2012’de Türkmenistan Enerji Bakanı Bairamgeldy Nedirov, Sıtkı Ayan’ı Aşkabat’ta elektrik ihracatı konusunu konuşmak için bir toplantıya davet etti. Ayan, davete icabet edeceğini ve yanında Tevfik Arif’le İran’ın Enerji Bakan Yardımcısı Hamid Farzam’ı getireceğini söyledi.

Aynı sıralarda Arif Arif, Doyen Sports’taki iş ortağı Nelio Lucas’a bir mesaj gönderdi:

"Türkmenistan’da çok büyük bir şeyin eşiğindeyiz. Bu, babamın şaheseri olacak. Bunun için ya Real Madrid ya da Barça’yı buraya getirip [Türkmen] başkanını etkileyelim. Bu işten kazanılacak milyarlar var. Bu işi ciddiye almanı ve hemen hazırlıklara başlamanı istiyorum."

Nelio cevap verdi: "Tamam. Real’in başkanı bugün Londra’da. Beraber Madrid’e uçacağız."

Bir kaç gün sonra Nelio, Arif’e ayrıntıları anlattı: "Çok kolay olacak. En az 3 milyon avro ve kesin bir tarih belirlenmesini istiyorlar."

O sıralarda tüm sermayeyi Türkmenistan projelerine aktarmaya uğraşan Doyen, 3 milyon avroyu böyle bir iş için fazla buldu. Böylece Real Madrid, sadece Ariflerin çıkarı için Türkmenistan’ın despot liderini eğlendirmek zorunda kalmadı.

Ama perde arkasındaki görüşmeler ve hassas manevralar işe yaradı. Bir sene sonra Türkmenistan Enerji Bakanlığı’na ait Türkmenergo State Power Corporation şirketi Ayan’ın şirketi Gent’e, İran üzerinden Türkiye’ye elektrik satması için izin verdi.

Bu anlaşmanın da göbeğinde Arif ailesi vardı.

ASTÜ Doğalgaz Enerji firması üzerinden, Türk pazarına elektriği satacak olan ASKA Enerji’nin yüzde 50’sine sahiptiler. Anlaşmayı takiben ASKA elektrik satabilmek için Elektrik Piyasası Düzenleme Kurumu EPDK’ya başvurdu ve bir ay içinde gerekli izinleri aldı. EPDK’ya sunulan başvuruda Refik Arif ve Sıtkı Ayan’ın imzası bulunuyor.

2014’e kadar tamamlanması planlanan İran-Türkiye boru hattı inşasının akıbeti belli değil. Uzmanlara göre Som Petrol’e verilen bu ihale, 2007’de İran ve Türkiye arasında imzalanan ve Amerika’nın, İran ambargosunu delme aracı olarak gördüğü anlaşmanın bir alternatifi olarak sunulmuştu. Amacı ise Amerika’yı yatıştırmaktı.   

Sebebi ne olursa olsun, Türk hükümeti Ayan’ı ödüllendirmeye devam etmekte kararlıydı. 16 Aralık 2013’te teşvik verileri açıklandığında Ayan’ın şirketi Turang Transit’in ‘Doğalgaz boru hattıyla taşımacılık’ amacıyla 11.5 milyar lira değerindeki Türkiye tarihinin en büyük ikinci teşviğini aldığı ortaya çıkmıştı. Turang Transit’in kurucu şirketleri arasında Arif ailesinin hissedarı olduğu şirketler de var. Teşvik alımı zirvesinde ise 14.5 milyar lirayla Çalık Holding bulunuyor.

Bir gün sonra 17 Aralık’ta Türkiye yolsuzluk skandalıyla çalkalanmış ve sızdırılan ses kayıtları Erdoğan ailesinin ihaleler karşılığında rüşvet aldığı iddialarına sebep olmuştu.

Polis operasyonlarda 50’den fazla kişiyi tutuklamış, skandala adı karışan bakanlar kabineden gönderilmişti.

Sızdırılan ses kayıtları arasında Tayyip Erdoğan ve oğlu Bilal arasında geçen ve Sıtkı Ayan’ı konu ettiği iddia edilen bir görüşme de vardı. Çoğu kişi bu görüşmenin Ayan’ın aldığı teşvikle ve İran boru hattı projesiyle ilgili olduğunu düşünmüştü.

"Dün Sıtkı Bey geldi ... ve doğru şekilde transfer işlemini yapamadığını söyledi," diyordu Bilal Erdoğan. "Bir 10 [milyon dolar] falan olduğunu... onu istediğimiz zaman verebileceğini [söyledi]."

Baba Erdoğan "Hayır alma," diye cevap verdi. "Kendisi bize ne söz verdiyse onu getirecekse getirsin, yoksa gerek yok. Başkaları getiriyor da o niye getirmiyor, laf mı?... Kucağımıza düşecekler, merak etme."  

Erdoğan ses kayıtlarının montaj olduğunu beyan etmiş, Sıtkı Ayan da İran projeleri için kimseye rüşvet vermediğini söylemişti.

Erdoğan’la Ayan’ın ilişkileri ses kayıtlarının sızmasından sonra hiç yara almadan devam etti. Hatta işler daha da iyiye gidecekti.

Cumhurbaşkanı seçildikten üç ay sonra Erdoğan, Türkmenistan’a resmi ziyaret gerçekleştirdi ve Türkmenistan başkanı Berdimuhamedov’la buluştu. Ziyaret sırasında devlet başkanları arasında bir de işbirliği protokolü imzalandı. Protokol, Türkmengaz ve Atagas Dogalgaz Ticaret A.Ş arasındaki doğalgaz alım-satımını kapsıyordu.

Bu anlaşma sayesinde Ayan, Arif ailesi ve Çalık Holding servetlerine servet katmış oluyordu.

Sızdırılan veriler içinde bulunan Nisan 2015 tarihli bir sözleşmeye göre Sıtkı Ayan, Atagas’da bulunan hisselerinin yarısını Arif ailesine ait ASTÜ Dogalgaz Enerji’ye devretti. Tevfik Arif’in damadı Azeri vatandaşı Elçin Beridze ise Atagas’ın yönetim kuruluna atandı.

Arifler’in hırsı ve bağlantıları aileyi en nihayetinde Türkiye’deki en kârlı işlere dahil etmeyi başarmıştı. 

Aylar sonra, bu yazı dizisinde adı geçen hemen hemen herkes Tevfik Arif’in oğlu Arif Arif’in Fransa’daki düğününde biraraya geldi. Davetiye listesi; politikacılar, diplomatlar, oligarklar, eski devlet başkanları, bilinen mafya üyeleri ve eski hükümlülerden oluşuyor. Arifler’in planladığı bu lüks düğün yalnızca oğullarının evliliğini değil aynı zamanda son 25 yıldır edindikleri üst düzey dostlukları ve hırsla katladıkları servetlerini ve güçlerini de kutlamak içindi.

22 year-old Serbian winger Lazar Markovic has entered the giant financial mechanism understood to be overseen by Israeli superagent Pini Zahavi through offshore companies from the British Virgin Islands to Malta.

On 1 August 2013, Serbia became U-19 European Championship winner for the first time in their history. They beat France 1-0 in the final. That summer night in Marijampole, Lithuania, midfielder Marko Pavlovski (now 22 years old) had the honour to be the first one to raise the trophy above his head. 

He was the captain of Serbia, a creative midfielder who grew up at OFK Beograd academy from the age of eight. A few days after the final, his club president Zvezdan Terzic, told the media in Belgrade that no player at his team is represented by an agent. 

At the end of that month and away from the public knowledge, Marko Pavlovski was already an Apollon Limassol player.
 
As in the previous cases, the player signed a ghostly four year contract with an annual income of 50,000 Euro (ten instalments of 5,000 Euro each) on 28 August 2013.

Two days later, Pavlovski moved to FC Porto on loan for the 2013/2014 season. According to the contract he signed under the supervision of the brother-in-law of Terzic, agent Nikola Damjanac, his salary increased to 7,500 Euro per month.

Apollon received 120,000 Euro and offered the Portuguese club the option to purchase 90 per cent of the Serbian’s economic rights in a complex layout over a three year period. Porto had three successive purchase options for a total of 4.5 million Euro 

Apollon included a “refusal clause” that would have forced Porto to sell the player for ten million Euro to any club offering this amount of money. The clause is tricky. 

One example: had Porto rejected a ten million Euro offer from rivals Benfica, they had to pay Apollon this amount multiplied by the Apollon share in Pavlovski at that moment. Depending on the moment the offer had come, the mandatory payable fee would have been between 11 and 15 million Euro.

Pavlovski didn’t play for FC Porto’s first team. He was included in FC Porto B squad and played only eight games in the Portuguese second league. Still, FC Porto kept him for one more season. This time, the loan fee due to Apollon increased to 150,000 Euro and so the player gross monthly wage to 8,500 Euro. His playing time increased during this second season in Portugal but FC Porto apparently declined to purchase the player. 

After two years at FC Porto B, the captain of the U-19 European Championships winning team from 2013 came back to Apollon only to be loaned out again. On 27 July 2015, Apollon lent the player to Belgian first division side (now-called) Royal Excel Mouscron for the 2015/16 season ‘“free of charge”. 

The Belgian club was just being bought by an “investment fund” fronted by Israeli superagent Pini Zahavi.  

But Pavlovski will soon be on the move again. Six months and only three games later, OFK Beograd borrowed his wandering son from Apollon until the summer of 2016.

At the end of that period, Pavlovski signed for Croatian RNK Split. TransferMarket announced him a free agent, but according to FC Porto internal documents from January 2016, the player was still bound to Apollon by contract until the summer of 2017 at least. The relationship is complicated. 

FC Porto had the right to buy percentages of the player in consecutive steps: 50 per cent in April 2015 for two million Euro Euro, 20 per cent in April 2016 for one million Euro and another 20 per cent for an additional 1.5 million Euro.

Following in the footsteps of former Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic, 25 year-old Serbian centre-back Nikola Maksimovic began football at upstart club Sloboda Uzice before moving to Serbian giant Red Star.

After only six months in Belgrade, he was sold in September 2012 for just one million Euro. The buyer is once again Apollon. 

He was allowed to stay playing at Red Star, under the understanding he would transfer to Apollon in the January 2013 transfer window in a three-year deal.

But this only happened on paper. 

He remained at Red Star. 

Asked whether he had ever been to Cyprus, Maksimovic replied: “I do not talk anymore on this issue and there is no need to go back and discuss this issue anymore.”

Without playing a single minute in Cyprus, Maksimovic went on loan to Torino. On 22 July 2013, the Seria A club agreed to pay a 350,000 Euro fee and retained an exclusive option right to take the defender on a permanent transfer. The next day, Maksimovic signed a five year contract despite being on loan for only one season. 

Torino had until May 2014 to exercise their option in exchange for a 3.5 million Euro amount. The eventual trimestrial instalments of 300,000 Euro each (only the first payment differed - 200,000 Euro) were structured over the next three years. 

The last payment was scheduled for June 2017. 

This is the key to an incredible clause introduced next in the contract by the Israeli lawyer Ehud Shochatovitch. He’s the one that looks after the interests of Israeli superagent Pini Zahavi. In Football Leaks, Shochatovitch signs documents in the name of offshore companies from British Virgin Islands to Luxembourg, sends emails to Portuguese club officials in the name of this employer and talks with Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia about transfer judicial strategies. 

His email address is mentioned at the end of the loan agreement between Apollon and Torino as a correspondence address. This is further proof that Pini Zahavi holds great influence over the Cypriot club. A few lines under Ehud’s contact detail, Torino chairman Urbano R. Cairo signed and agreed to the following sentences:

“In any case in which Torino FC S.P.A has exercised the option and sells the player’s rights and transfers the player to another club on a permanent basis (“Future Transfer”) before it has completed the payment of the entire Purchase Consideration stipulated above. For the remaining amount to be paid by Torino FC S.P.A. of 3.500.000 Euro, Torino FC S.P.A. will pay to Apollon a percentage of the amount  paid to Torino FC S.P.A. for the transfer which will equal to the percentage still due to Apollon of 3.500.000 Euro in that moment”. 

Events that followed placed Torino in the situation mentioned above.

On 20 May 2014, ten days left before the deadline, Urbano Cairo informed Apollon that his club will exercise their option. 

They agreed to transfer Maksimovic under the terms already agreed. The Serbian already became an integral part of a Torino team that established itself in Seria A following their promotion in 2012. But for a metatarsal fracture that kept him on the sideline for a few months, Maksimovic regularly played in the first team and drew the attention of bigger clubs. 

In the last day of the 2016 summer transfer window, he went to Napoli. The terms of the deal are bizarre. 

Maksimovic was loaned for one season, but the fee is unusually high. Napoli agreed to pay five million Euro now and 20 million Euro next summer when they will permanently transfer the defender. The definitive transfer was set and done from August 2016 but the clubs preferred to loan the player for the first season. 

Had Maksimovic been transferred on 31 August 2016 to Napoli for 25 million Euro, Torino would have been forced to pay Apollon a huge amount of money. On that day, they were still 1.2 million Euro away from the 3.5 million Euro payment completion to the club in Cyprus. That is 34 per cent of the agreed transfer fee. 

Under the terms agreed by Urbano Cairo, Torino would have been bound to pay Apollon 34 per cent of the 25 million Euro fee from Napoli. Instead of 1.2 million, the club controlled by Zahavi would have received 8.5 million Euro, an undesirable 7.3 million loss for the Italian club. 

Now, let’s do a simple calculation: 2.3 million plus 8.5 million equal 10.8 million. This would have been the Apollon total income following Maksimovic sale to Torino. As a domino effect, Red Star would have been entitled to ten per cent of Apollon net profit from a future transfer. Mind that they sold Maksimovic for one million Euro. The base for making calculations is the 9.8 million Euro difference. If you deduct the player and agents expenses, Red Star would still be able to claim a hundreds of thousands Euro compensation. 

But after Torino and Napoli agreed to delay the permanent transfer for one season, all these calculations seem to be in vain.

In July 2016, media in Cyprus published pictures with the Cypriot club Apollon Limassol’s president Nikos Kirzis and the Brazil and Barcelona forward Neymar. They were spending their holiday in Las Vegas with a common friend: Israeli superagent Pini Zahavi. 

While the trio was partying in Vegas, another Serbian talent left Belgrade for Benfica after months of quarrel.

Andrija Zivkovic (now 20 years old) was a hot prospect raised by Partizan’s renown academy that was sold abroad leaving his formative club with almost nothing. 

Zivkovic is known as the “Serbian Messi”. But instead of a call-up from Barcelona, he had one from Apollon.

Back in July 2014, Apollon Limassol secretly bought 50 per cent of the economic rights of this talented winger for 1.2 million Euro from Partizan, leaving the Serb club with only 25 per cent of the rights.

At that time, Zivkovic himself did not even know that this transaction was taking place.

The contract also included a controversial “friendly” clause to Apollon: it stated that Partizan will grant to sell the player to a third club “subject to an offer to purchase the player and to employ him with a minimum amount of 400,000 Euro net per year”. Had Zivkovic refused to sign for this third club, Partizan would have been forced to pay Apollon half of the amount offered for the player purchase. 

Let’s put it like that: had a third club offered six million Euro for Zivkovic, but the player refused their terms, Partizan had to pay Apollon three million Euro. Just for doing nothing. This clause was deemed “criminal” by Serbian lawyers contacted by the media in Belgrade. 

The situation then went out of control. The Partizan Belgrade president who agreed to sell this hot prospect under these conditions departed the club, and the new board put pressure on Apollon by slipping the contract to the press. 

Still, Apollon had a firm contract signed by Partizan officials and they were not prepared to lose the player. Zivkovic was pressured by the club to leave, he stubbornly refused to transfer and was subsequently sent to train with the B team, Teleoptik Belgrade. 

Meanwhile, soon after 2016 New Year’s Day, Benfica president Luis F. Vieira received multiple emails from a “socio” - a fan that is paying his annual fee to the club - telling him:

“Zivkovic is worth every penny invested in him. It would be an enormous pride and an enormous motivation for all the fans and the players to sign this enormous player”. 

After some unanswered emails, Luis F. Vieira decided to disclose the situation to the Benfica fan: “We are on top of him. We can reach an agreement if his father drops the numbers”.

In other words, if his father lowers the price. 

“It will bring us an enormous joy,” the ecstatic fan responded.  

In July 2016, he had every reason to be over the moon. The 19-year old Andrija Zivkovic signed for Benfica for an unknown fee. The Portuguese media wrote about a figure of four million Euro in “commissions and signing on fees”. Journalists at Portuguese sports journal Record announced the transfer fee: nothing.  

This is bizarre. According to a clause from the contract between Partizan and Apollon, the Serbian club “was entitled to receive an additional payment, equal to 10 per cent from Apollon’s net profit, of any sum above four million Euro to be received as consideration for future transfer of the rights over the player”. 

With Zivkovic’s transfer to Benfica allegedly being completed without any official fee, Apollon appears to have no profit to share with Partizan.

Turkish police detained investigative journalist Ahmet Şık at his home in Istanbul today, accusing him of creating "propaganda for a terrorist organisation" and insulting the Turkish Republic, its judiciary, military and security forces.

46 year-old Ahmet announced on Twitter at 5:56 this morning that: "I'm being detained. They're taking me to the prosecutor due to a tweet."

The charges stem from his activity on Twitter criticising the Turkish government's arrest of Kurdish MPs.

Also added to the mix is a 2015 interview with the head of the Kurdish Workers' Party (the PKK), considered a terrorist organisation by NATO and the EU, and two other reports in Turkish daily Cumhuriyet.

The motivation for the arrest also include remarks made by Şık during a European Parliament workshop on press freedom.

Ahmet has been held under the Turkish Government's state of emergency powers, which were adopted following the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July this year.

This decree has been used to jail dozens of journalists, academics and lawyers, and to shut down human rights' organisations. 

The use of emergency powers means Ahmet will be denied access to any legal services for the next five days.

His lawyer, Can Atalay, told the Turkish news website Bianet that "the police are not allowing us to see Ahmet with the excuse that the process is ongoing."

Atalay later confirmed to the BBC that he is banned from speaking to Ahmet.

The Turkish Anadolu Agency, a state news organisation and mouthpiece of Turkey's ruling party, the AKP, reported that Ahmet was detained over three tweets he made between late November and early December 2016.

Tweet 1: "If Sirri Sureyya Onder is guilty of these charges, then don’t many people including the ones sitting in the [Presidential] Palace need to be charged too?"

Onder, MP for the People's Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish political party with seats in the Turkish partliament, was detained in November for terrorism-related charges because of a photograph taken of him with a member of the PKK's media team.

The HDP, however, were part of the team negotiating a peace deal between the Government and PKK, which also including members of AKP - hence the questioning tone of Şık's tweet.

Tweet 2: "The war with the PKK, even though there have been pauses, has been going on since 1984. Instead of comparing people burned to death in Cizre and people blown up in Istanbul, why don’t you get angry about both of them?

In February this year, 60 people burned to death in an apartment basement in Cizre, southeast Turkey, as they took shelter during Turkish army bombing campaign against the PKK.

The military claimed it "neutralised" several PKK soldiers, but others, including HDP members, said civilians were among those killed. 

Hence Şık's appeal to moral equivalence, which he makes at the same time as not condoning either terrorism or Government-backed arson.

Tweet 3 "Instead of arresting Tahir Elci [lawyer] they chose to murder him, you are a murderous mafia."

Elci was head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, and a human rights lawyer who defended the rights of Kurds in Turkey.

He was shot and killed in November last year moments before being due to issue a press statement calling for an end to the violence in the south east of the country. 

No one has been arrested for the assassination, but the family and some HDP members blame the Government.

Hence the anger in Şık's Tweet.

Ahmet was previously jailed for 375 days in 2011, along with fellow journalist Nedim Sener.

They were accused of being members of a so-called terrorist organisation called "Ergenekon", which the AKP said was plotting to overthrow the Government. 

Ahmet's unpublished book, The Imam's Army, about the infiltration of Turkey's institutions by followers of Fetulah Gulen - blamed for the recent coup -  caused his prior arrest.

In 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Turkish government violated the rights of Ahmet and Sener.

Two years later, Turkey's supreme court quashed the Ergenekon convictions, stating that the prosecutor - who fled Turkey last year - failed to establish that the 'terrorist organisation' had ever existed.

Turkish authorities have now officially arrested Ahmet Şık, one of the country's most respected investigative journalists. 

He is charged with creating "propaganda for a terrorist organisation" and insulting the Turkish Republic, its judiciary, military and security forces.

The saga began at 5:56 on Thursday morning when 46 year-old Ahmet announced on Twitter: "I'm being detained. They're taking me to the prosecutor due to a tweet." 

Şık was then brought before a prosecutor and interrogated over his Twitter activity.

Several of his tweets are now being used as "evidence" that Ahmet created propaganda for the PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party), FETO (Fetullah Gulen Terrorist Organisation) and DHKP-C (Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation).

The allegations, together with this grouping of organisations with contrasting and conflicing aims, is bizarre, as Şık has been one of the staunchest and most consistent critics of Gulen and his Islamist sect.

But like the so-called "evidence" against Şık, the prosecutorial line of questioning bordered on the farcical. 

At one point the prosecutor asked the journalist: “What did you mean by these tweets?” 

Şık’s lawyer, Tora Pekin, intervened, pointing out that it is the role of the prosecutor to first establish solid evidence demonstrating that Ahmet broke the law - instead of fishing for a response which could enable the journalist to incriminate himself.

Şık then refused to answer the prosecutor’s questions, declaring: “If there was a free and fair judiciary, I would give you my testimony.”

"The failed coup doesn't change the fact that there is a junta in power right now ... This [investigation] is an insult to my work ethics," he added.

The prosecutor presented the testimony to the Istanbul court yesterday (30 December 2016), and demanded Ahmet's arrest. Şık was brought before the Judge Atila Ozturk.

In his final defense, Şık said:

“I have been a journalist for 27 years seeking the truth. If I describe truth, the judge of my claims are the people, not the courts.

"I have no connection with any illegal organisations. I only stand against power. My aim has always been to disturb those in power, whichever party they come from. Because of this and because of my journalism, I have become the persona non grata of every era. This is a badge of honour for me. So actually, I do belong to an organisation, it’s called the truth. And my support is the people.”

The Turkish judicary has increasingly become a tool to silence critics of President Erdogan and to destroy the parliamentary gains of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP), just as it was used to attack those who investigated the political influence of exiled-cleric, Fetulah Gulen, several years ago.

One of whom is Şık, who was previously jailed.

“The same thing happened to me five years ago. I was a target for the Gulenists,"Şık told the judge.

"The same scenario is taking place again but by the Government this time. I would like to remind you that judges and prosecutors who put me in jail are themselves in jail now or they have fled the country. I want to remind you about this to show you that power is not permanent. It will not be permanent for those who are so arrogant now, because they’re drunk on power.”

Following Şık's statement, the judge called a recess. At around 7 pm he returned to the courtroom with his decision. It was unsuprising. Judge Ozturk stated that Şık showed no remorse for his actions and ordered his detention.

Şık’s lawyers said they will appeal.

The prosecutor will complete a full indictment and should inform Şık of a trial date.

According to the EU regulations accepted by Turkey, this process must be quick. Law experts state, however, that the state of emergency powers currently in place in Turkey since the attempted coup last July could mean that it is months before Şık and his lawyers are able to obtain the indictment and argue their case.

The charges against Ahmet stem mostly from his activity on Twitter. In recent weeks, he has criticised the Turkish government's arrest of Kurdish MPs and the state’s military operations in southeast of Turkey.

But the prosecutor also dredged up an interview with the head of the Kurdish Workers' Party (the PKK), conducted in March 2015 when the government and the PKK were in a ceasefire agreement, and two other reports for Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet.

Şık's remarks during a European Parliament workshop on press freedom were also used against him.

Ahmet is now held under the Turkish government's state of emergency powers, adopted following the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July this year.

This decree is being exploited by the state to jail dozens of journalists, academics and lawyers, as well as the closure of human rights organisations, such as the Ankara-based, Gundem Cocuk, an NGO fighting for the rights of children, who provided valuable data to The Black Sea during its investigation into child labour deaths in Turkey last year. 

According to a 2016 report by the Journalists’ Association of Turkey, in the last year 780 journalists had their press cards revoked, 839 journalists were brought before court over news coverage, and 143 journalists are currently in jail.

Turkey has the highest number of jailed journalists in the world. 

Ahmet was arrested over several tweets he made between late November and early December 2016.

Tweet 1: "If Sirri Sureyya Onder is guilty of these charges, then don’t many people including the ones sitting in the [Presidential] Palace need to be charged too?"

Onder, MP for the People's Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish political party with seats in the Turkish partliament, was detained in November for terrorism-related charges because of a photograph taken of him with a member of the PKK's media team.

The HDP, however, were part of the team negotiating a peace deal between the Government and PKK, which also including members of AKP - hence the questioning tone of Şık's tweet.

Tweet 2: "Instead of comparing people burned to death in Cizre and people blown up in Istanbul, why don’t you get angry about both of them? It's violence either way."

In February this year, 60 people burned to death in an apartment basement in Cizre, southeast Turkey, as they took shelter during Turkish army bombing campaign against the PKK.

The military claimed it "neutralised" several PKK soldiers, but others, including HDP members, said civilians were among those killed. 

Hence Şık's appeal to moral equivalence, which he makes at the same time as not condoning either terrorism or Government-backed arson.

Tweet 3 "Instead of arresting Tahir Elci [lawyer] they chose to murder him, you are a murderous mafia."

Elci was head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, and a human rights lawyer who defended the rights of Kurds in Turkey.

He was shot and killed in November last year moments before being due to issue a press statement calling for an end to the violence in the south east of the country. 

No one has been arrested for the assassination, but the family and some HDP members blame the Government.

Ahmet was previously jailed for 375 days in 2011, along with fellow journalist Nedim Sener.

They were accused of being members of a so-called terrorist organisation called "Ergenekon", which the AKP said was plotting to overthrow the Government. 

Ahmet's unpublished book, The Imam's Army, about the infiltration of Turkey's institutions by followers of Fetulah Gulen - blamed for the recent coup -  caused his prior arrest.

In 2014, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Turkish government violated the rights of Ahmet and Sener.

Two years later, Turkey's supreme court quashed the Ergenekon convictions, stating that the prosecutor - who fled Turkey last year - failed to establish that the 'terrorist organisation' had ever even existed.

Over 100,000 passengers pass through Rome’s Termini station every day. Its 33 platforms host high-speed trains that span Europe and dock at the Italian capital arund the clock, 365 days of the year.

Meanwhile shoppers arrive in the underground to pick up knitwear from Benetton, lingerie from Calzedonia or patchwork dresses from Desigual. This makes the terminus the second busiest station on the continent after Gare du Nord in Paris.

Up to 60 per cent of the passengers are foreign. Some are mini-breakers, others pilgrims, some catch a bus to the cruise ships on the Med, or race for a coach to Fiumicino airport. They are in a hurry. Nervous.

They don’t speak Italian. Don’t know where to go. How to get there. Who to ask.

These are targets.

The station has its own police force. To meet with their boss, one has to walk nearly a kilometre down the eastern platform to a large room with cordoned offices. The station is packed with shelves of files that litter the tight corridors.

The slim, forty-something head of the police, Emanuele Fattori, calls Termini “the central point of Italy” and refuses to say how many officers work at the station (it is classified).

Although terrorist attacks are the major threat to this transport hub, the station experiences a common nuisance of gangs looking to squeeze cash out of the masses teaming through the arcades and ticket barriers.

And for two years until 2014, the station was tormented by 20 Romanian beggars, aged between 12 and 17.

At first, the kids were helping passengers with their luggage. Always the Asians, and especially the Japanese. This was not out of charity. After they hauled a suitcase 100 metres across a concourse, or down a flight of stairs, the kids expected a tip of between 20 and 50 Euro.

“If they weren’t paid, around three or four of them would crowd around the tourists and refuse to return the baggage until they were given money,” says Fattori.

While transporting the luggage, they were stealing phones or wallets from the passenger’s handbag. The police caught on, picked up the kids and questioned them.

The gang lived with 300 other Romanians in a squat inside abandoned buildings in the town of Aprilia, 50 km from Rome. The residents were mostly from the Danube town of Calafat, where they had traditionally been wood-carvers.

“There is a very big problem in Italy of children who come from Roma families used for begging,” says Vincenzo Nicoli, Second Department of the Central Operative Service in the Italian Police.

“In the north of Italy initiatives were made against this. The problem it is that as soon as you start a police initiative, they change their behavior. For example if I [as a criminal] am out with a child during school hours and the child is eight years old, I risk criminal arrest. But if I beg with a four-year old child [which is not the compulsory school age], I don't run any risk.

"There needs to be a combined social, cultural and police activity [to remedy this] - if it is only with the police, this will have a limited effect.”

In the Termini station, the kids were on their own. They had no adult overseers. Most were under 14, some as young as ten. Until the age of 14, a child cannot be kept in juvenile detention in Italy. They are the responsibility of their parents. The state can also put them in a children’s home. But if a kid wants to leave a children’s home - all he or she has to do is open the door of the building and walk out.

Although they were picked up, they could not be detained.

So they came back to Termini.

But they wised up.

This time, they stopped helping Japanese people with their baggage while stealing their iPhones.

They shifted to a new activity.

The police noticed how the children were walking up to men, asking for their telephone numbers and pressing these into their own cellphones. These were older men - in their 50s and 60s, even 70s or more.

“That was quite weird,” says Fattori.

The police intercepted the telephones and found that around 14 boys and six girls were arranging to meet old Italian men for sex.

The kids, some as young as 14, gathered opposite McDonald’s at the west entrance to the main station and near the stairs to the Metro. Here they would stand, scan the passengers as they walked past, try to catch the eye of a man, then fold their tongue, and stick it out of a closed mouth. This was the sign for offering gay sex.

Where regional trains stopped in the station for over an hour, the boys would meet the clients in the carriage toilets.

They would also have assignations in the lavatory of McDonald’s. If the client was carrying a bit more cash, they went to a nearby hotel, where the owners would not record the names of the guests.

Because some of these kids were under 16, this was child abuse. The price the clients paid to abuse these kids was between 10 and 50 Euro for boys and 20 and 50 Euro for girls.

According to the results of the investigation, there was no pimp or an organized trafficking network. The boys would share the phone numbers of clients between themselves. They were not violent - and did not steal from the clients. Even though, in many cases, the clients were rich and important. They included a doctor, a surgeon, a former judge and two priests.

An eighty-year old man used to come to the station in the morning. He lived in a retirement home in the north of Rome. He would eat his breakfast at the home, pop a Viagra and come to the station. As the drug fired blood to the pensioner’s libido, he would find a Romanian boy at the west exit and arrange a rendezvous around the corner - at a hotel on Piazza Vittorio Emanuele.

Then he would catch a train back to the retirement home. At the fixed time of 12:00 he had to be there - as this was when the kitchen served up lunch.

After his meal, he would pop another Viagra, return to the station, arrange another meeting with a boy, and rendezvous with the kid at the same hotel on the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele.

After the police cracked down on the operation, he died of a heart attack.

The police caught one underage girl in a park near the station with an older Italian man. He was touching her “sexually”, says Fattori.

When the police accosted the two, the girl said that nothing illegal was going on. She claimed she had “a terrible ache in my stomach and this man was just massaging me”.

“Of course the kids knew what they were doing,” says Fattori.

So the cops rounded up the kids and seized their phones. Prosecutors used the information to indict 20 men. The judge took the evidence from the children and released them back to their families. The kids were worried they may face threats from the clients. The case is still ongoing. But the kids will not need to testify again.

Afterwards, many moved away from Italy. Some went to England, and others to Spain. The police do not know what happened to them.

“Perhaps they go out of station and meet [clients] in another part of Rome,” says Fattori, “but they don’t have sexual rapports in the station anymore.”

Fattori says the families knew their children were in prostitution. Some mothers were even encouraging the children to have sex with older men.

But the kids would not admit to this.

None of them.

Fattori says they told him: “My Mama did not know.”

Cecilia Ferrara works for the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI)

For more on how Romanians settled in Italy, read our interviews with residents of favelas at the edge of Naples

Part of The Black Sea #Eurocrimes project financed by:

In April 2016, the European Investigative Collaborations network of 12 major national news organisations received a dataset detailing shady business in football, and set about investigating the mass of rich contents.

This consisted of email inboxes, a bunch of PDF and Word documents, zip and rar archives, whatsapp conversations and encrypted hushmail communication. Out of 1.9TB of data, our team analyzed one terabyte of data, which yielded more than 6 million individual documents

It was the largest leak in the history of sport and was made available to the investigative team of German news magazine Der Spiegel.

One of the options for EIC journalists to search through the data was a server that we set up at the Romanian Centre of Investigative Journalism (RCIJ), using whatever hardware was at hand.

Specifically, a 2011 MacBook Pro with an after-market SSD, to which we hooked up a large USB drive. It turns out that the MacBook, with quad I7 processors, is a powerful beast, and could churn through the documents at an impressive rate.

We processed the data in stages, using a tool we built for this project called ‘Snoop’. To get started, we listed all the files in the dataset, and stored them in a PostgreSQL database. Then we extracted the text from the easy emails (from Apple Mail inboxes) and indexed them into elasticsearch, a versatile open-source search database.

Now we wanted to give our journalists access to the search engine so they could start their work.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is difficult to set up and support, and replicating the search engine on-premises for each of the 12 news organizations would require hardware and people to take care of each server. We didn't have the resources for that. So we set up a secure HTTPS website, two-factor authentication using the TOTP protocol, time-limited login sessions, rate limiting and traffic logging, which gave us enough confidence to open up the server to our network of journalists, over the public Internet.

We implemented a straightforward process for sign-up and account recovery: the user would get a URL, which contained a short-lived code, that opened a form page. Here they would choose a password, and set up a second factor for authentication, with a compatible phone app like Google Authenticator or Duo Mobile. This process went smoothly and saved us a lot of support work.

Then we went back to the dataset: we ran Tika, a tool that extracts text and metadata from a bunch of different file formats (PDFs, Word documents, etc). We also introduced the concept of file containers, so we could analyze email attachments and archive contents.

Emails were a particular challenge, because they have a tree-like structure of text parts and file attachments, with a bunch of headers with specific meanings, and they come in several file formats to boot. The email parser from Python’s standard library would handle anything that looked like standard RFC-822, and Apple Mail's "emlx" format is a simple adaptation of that. We converted Outlook files using msgconvert and readpst.

There were many scanned documents in the dataset, so early on, Der Spiegel made a big effort to process all PDFs and images through OCR - a process that retrieves the original text from printed documents. We added support in Snoop, matching the files by their unique MD5 checksum, and indexed the OCR output along with the original file.

Each feature added to Snoop would yield more documents for the search engine. To make sure we didn't miss anything, we re-processed the whole dataset every time, using caches to avoid duplicating expensive steps, like parsing emails, running Tika, and unpacking archives. Internally, each document has a unique identifier, so there are no duplicates in the index, and documents have stable URLs in the search engine.

We started out with a very basic user interface: a search box, highlighting for matches in search results, and clicking on a result opened a new tab with nothing more than a text-only preview of the document. As the project went on, we evolved the user interface (UI) with feedback from journalists, to a two-column layout with search results on the left and document preview on the right. Now we display a bunch of metadata for each document, along with links to download the original file, OCRed version (if available), and links to parent and child documents (e.g. email attachments, zip archive contents, and navigation of the original dataset's folder structure).

Journalists were incredibly forgiving with glitches and initial usability problems, as long as they could actually search through the files, and, over time, get access to more of the dataset, as we improved the processing toolchain. The whole group stayed in touch via Rocket.chat, an open-source clone of Slack, that we ran on a self-hosted Sandstorm server, and for the tech team, the questions, feedback and encouragement were invaluable. We hardly needed to set up monitoring in case the server went down - very soon we would receive worried (but friendly) messages and emails…

On the development team, coders Gabriel Vîjială, Dragoș Catarahia, Victor Avasiloaei and myself worked on the data processing and user interface, Coder Dan Achim integrated Hypothesis annotations, and Raluca Ciubotaru designed the user interface and helped us understand how journalists use the tool.

All of this work - document processing, indexing, the search interface, two-factor authentication and the signup process - is open source under the "hoover" umbrella project. We were in a unique position to build the tool, with constant user feedback, a large and varied real-life dataset, and hard publishing deadlines. Now we're smoothing out the rough edges so hoover can be used in other similar projects, both at EIC and in other places.

The source code is on GitHub - https://github.com/hoover - and includes an installation utility to get started quickly. If you try it out, we'd love to hear your experiences.

Found in a range of public spaces, on the facades of apartment blocks and in the entrances to city parks, mosaics and murals from the Soviet era could be considered some of the earliest examples of street art.

Yet throughout the former eastern bloc, much like communist ideology, such pieces have fallen into decay, are deemed longer relevant, or have been torn down and removed.

This erasure of the past has boomed in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, ever since the country’s president, Petro Poroshenko, enforced the country’s ‘decommunisation’ law in 2015. Now, any statue of Lenin faces the hammer.

But while one style of street art fades from the city’s landscape, another has emerged.

Following the protests in the city’s Maidan Square in 2014 against the Russian-backed President Victor Yanukovich, huge decorative murals etch the vast empty walls of blocks and factories across the city.

Centered on themes of patriotism and freedom, the artworks derive from the spirit of the protests, which strove to distance the country from Russian influence and foster closer ties with the European Union.

These two types of street art may seem very different on the surface, yet share a similar function as tools of the state.

However there is a third rival seeking to occupy the public space.

Against these forms of state-backed art is a new scene that challenges not only the government - but also rebels against traditional concepts of beauty.

Lenin’s party slogan “it is necessary to dream” runs through the ideological veins of Socialist art. Following the 1917 revolution in Russia, theorists envisaged art as vehicle for realising these dreams. Art was action. Not reflection.

“Art as a method of knowing life…is the highest content of bourgeois aesthetics,” wrote Bolshevik journalist Nikolai Chuzhak. “A method for building life - this is the slogan behind the proletarian conception of the science of art.”

Works were designed to depict this society, even if it didn’t yet exist, through the intention that art would enable it to become a reality.

From the 1930s, under Stalin’s doctrine of Socialist Realism, characterized by the depiction of communist values, such as the emancipation of the proletariat, large public murals, mostly mosaics, were commissioned across the Soviet Union. Artworks promoted principles that were seen as intrinsic to the sustenance of a harmonious communist society, and tactically installed in places of influence.

In Kyiv, such pieces still exist, but mostly on the outskirts of the city. Venturing to the left bank of the river Dnipro, several are intact.

Guarding run-down housing estates in some of the city’s poorer districts such as Dniprovskiy and Desnianskyi, they are well preserved, proud monuments to the Communist state, a stark contrast to the crumbling tower blocks that surround them.

On the façade of a school buried between run-down Breznevka flats in the commuter neighbourhood of Troieschyna, is a piece by Ukrainian-born artist Volodymyr Pryadka. It still maintains its vibrant Soviet-red hues and promotes education, strength and unity (see above, first image on page).

Another, positioned on the edge of a busy ring-road nearby, depicts scientists, farmers and factory workers (below). Electric pastels merge the different professions together to highlight the importance of collective work.

Despite being in public spaces, Socialist street art was not created to cater for the tastes of the masses, but formulated by the intelligentsia, who aimed to shape the mentality of society.

Works received no independent funding and were entirely financed by the Government.

Artists were embedded in the inner circle of the Communist party, and put under pressure to create a clear vision of still-emerging party objectives. Failure to do so was interpreted as an indication of political disagreement with the party, which even if carried out subconsciously, would land artists in prison.

The Soviet Union provided the perfect environment for the experiment of shaping a new reality through art, as the effects of a revolution were more radical in the east than they were ever going to be in the west.

This is because the west was confined by its debt to tradition and previous intellectual, political and cultural achievements. The political shapers of the post-revolution east thrived off this advantage, associating tradition with inferiority, and thus Russia and the Soviet Union were more receptive to some new forms of art.

Kyiv’s current political climate similarly provides an environment that allows ideologically-fuelled street art to thrive.

Works champion strength and freedom, and are mostly patriotic. Walking through downtown Kiev, there are an abundance of murals featuring national figures such as poet Lesia Ukrainka, dressed in traditional folk costumes and doused in the blue and yellow of the national flag.

While Soviet art was funded by the party, these pieces are funded in a similar manner, filtered through charities, NGOs and organisations affiliated with the Ukrainian government and the governments of countries aligned with Ukraine’s aspirations to be part of the EU.

One organisation that has curated many murals throughout Kyiv is ‘Art United Us’, which works in collaboration with city mayor Vitali Klitschko. Unlike Soviet artists, the creators of the organisation began their venture independently, but had to seek legal permission to create the murals in public spaces.

One of the group’s founders, Geo Leros, tried to bluff his way into the Kyiv city council to present his ideas - only to be detained by the security guards.

It wasn’t until a member of Klitschko’s team stepped in, that the organisation was granted a meeting with the mayor and received permission to decorate the empty spaces of the city. However there is little doubt that this would have happened if the organisation didn’t advocate the Government’s aspirations to be closer to the EU.

Like in Soviet times, the creators of this street art are embedded in the government, and Leros was awarded a role in Ukraine’s Ministry of Information.

Following the success of the project in Kyiv, Art United Us went on to continue working in collaboration with the Poroshenko-backed Government, curating patriotic art in Ukraine’s 'Anti-terrorist Operation’ zones in the country’s war-torn region of Donbass.

While post-revolution Russia provided a timely environment for the introduction of Socialist art, post-Maidan Ukraine provides an opportune landscape for Eurocentric tropes.

In cities across the Western world from Berlin to New York, street art has developed beyond the amateur, with its stencilists and muralists now deemed professional artists in their own right.

In a public space, the works are still associated with the rebellious roots and illegal tags from which they stemmed from and thus resemble a symbol of creative freedom.

Free from the confines of the gallery walls, graffiti works are often viewed as edgy tourist attractions.

Many artists commissioned to create murals around Kyiv are not from Ukraine.

Around the corner from the menacing Stalinist pillars of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stands a mural by Portuguese Alexandre Farto that pays tribute to Serhiy Nigoyan, the first person to be shot dead during the Euromaidan protests.

A piece by French artist Seth Globepainter has a prominent place in Kyiv’s old town, perched on a cobbled hill surrounded by touristic cafes and make-shift stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs, including toilet paper printed with the face of disgraced ex-President Yanukovich. Titled ‘Renaissance’, the work depicts a young Maidan protester wearing a military jacket and a traditional Vinok flower crown (above).

Another by Globepainter, tucked in a side street next to the ‘Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred’ boulevard, named as a tribute to the protesters who died under sniper-fire in February 2014, depicts two figures wearing colours of the Ukrainian flag breaking free from chains (two images above).

Artists from Brazil to Australia contribute work that is patriotic in its nature. According to Leros, who often curates the pieces, “artists from around the world are more interested in Ukrainian traditions and identity than local artists [because] local artists grew up with it.”

Through Ukraine’s desire to Westernise itself and to be viewed as a place that is free and able to adapt aesthetically to Europe, street murals can thrive and follow the same utopian function as Soviet art - through the hope that the depiction of this would enable it to turn into a reality.  

Part of this Westernisation is the act of ‘decommunisation’, which culminates in the removal or adaption of anything associated with the county’s Soviet past.

Last May, the Government changed the industrial central city Dnipropetrovsk, named after a Russified moniker in 1926, to the shorter ‘Dnipro’. This also means a ‘lustration’ move, common in other east European countries, which is the act of purging officials with communist ties from parliament. But decommunisation extends beyond these to works of art.

Like in Moscow, many of Kyiv’s most impressive Soviet art works were not above ground - but in the underbelly of the city’s underground metro. However many of these works have now been stripped bare. While Soviet-era trains, rickety escalators and dim antique lighting remain, symbolic mosaics have been plied out and removed. 

A sculpture of a woman inside a hammer and sickle that stood on the platform of the Polytechnic Institute station was targeted during the removals, and has now had her hammer removed (below)

Palats Ukrayina, which was originally named after the Red Army, is another station that underwent a significant make-under.

Once lined with crimson mosaics that paid tribute to the October revolution, the station had its Red Army soldiers removed and hammer and sickles torn out and covered with stark metal sheets (below).

The only artworks that are ‘safe’ are normally ones that are related to sport, such as Olympic-themed murals, or those that focus on nature.

Decommunisation is not only a symbolic dissociation from the country’s Soviet past, but the removal or adaption of pieces suggests that they are considered offensive, and damaging to current ideologies. To leave them alone would be to remain indifferent, yet their removal could be seen as a form of political censorship in itself.

While mosaicked Red Army soldiers of 1917 are being forced to retreat from the city’s subways, a hundred years later – another revolution is going on, one that is regarded with as much disdain by the current government.

Kyiv has a strong underground graffiti scene, often occupying the walls of abandoned buildings and the underpasses of the city, blessed with wide boulevards and vast public parks.

One collective, whose tags can be seen throughout the city, proudly call themselves the ‘Save Ugly Crew’ (SUG).

While the huge murals made under projects such as ‘Art United Us’ were created ‘for the people’ by renowned graffiti artists flown from abroad, and in a similar manner, Soviet works were made by experienced elites, these underground works are created ‘by the people’, from a cross-section of society, none of whom make a living as professional artists.

One member of SUG, Nikito, tells us “we have everyone from a 16-year-old student, to a school teacher, to an architect who earns a good wage, to another guy who borrows money from his grandmother and drinks cheap beer.”  

The group’s aesthetic is contrived to go against any pre-conceived idea of what society deems beautiful or, as Nikito puts it, to “completely destroy” and “spread maximum ugliness” throughout the city.

In an abandoned building near the city’s main train station, jagged and disfigured initials spell out the group’s tag, its ‘ugly’ aesthetic framed by soil-encrusted rubbish. In Pushkin Park, another is formed by lumpish alien-like creatures, their pudgy fingers probe the rusted foundations of a half-torn down concrete building.

Their disjointed scrawls can be seen on the side of public properties across Kyiv, and are put there without city council approval.

“My idea of making something ugly isn’t seen as something good for society,” says Nikito.

As under Communism, public artworks that aren’t viewed as beneficial in motivating society are treated as a defacement that should be punished.  

“The government would only ever pay me to stop painting,” he says.

Nikito recalls that when he has been caught by the police, he has been slapped, beaten and choked.

“That’s our new police,” he says, “the same as they were before.”

It is clear that art that is funded by the government or some affiliated organisation is contrived to be positive in its message.

“When an artist paints on the walls he wants to share his subconscious,” Nikito says.

While he is insistent that he isn’t trying “to spread any message in particular” there is no doubt that the works SUG create are more true to the feelings of the artists, but also more pessimistic in sentiment.

Although the type of street art that SUG produces could be seen as reactionary, the fact that these artists are free from governmental and monetary control is what could arguably make their works the most honest out of the three.

While street art is in danger of turning into a corporatised entity, and already has been used as a means to give companies and political bodies ‘street cred’, SUG is a reminder that the medium doesn’t necessarily have to be doomed to this fate.

Instead, it reinforces the reality that it was a movement born out anarchism and freedom of expression, whose most beneficial traits lie in its ability to help society through its accessibility, community, audience interaction and social representation.  

In the transitory period that Ukraine now finds itself with the prospect of political and social change on the horizon, there is no better time to reclaim the streets and build on a medium that has the possibility to serve the public as opposed to exploiting it.

A guide to the above images and their locations in Kyiv are mapped here

NB: This has been written down quickly, and may contain errors, so will be subject to change: any criticisms are welcome

I was not sure whether it was tear gas or pepper spray. It’s like chilli without the taste. It hits you at the back of throat. Instead of a flavour kick, it irritates you, resembling a cheap flu remedy. Then there is pain. And then the fear it could happen again.

Following a peaceful protest that attracted over 100,000 Romanians to demonstrate opposite the Government building in the capital’s central Piata Victoriei, violence broke out.

This is how it happened.

A group of hooligans started by setting off flares and chucking them at the cordon of armed riot police. The police stood firm, but were prepared. They had even positioned themselves in the exact location where the violence was about to escalate.

Then the plastic bottles started flying in the direction of the police. The crowd began to disperse. And opened up a pitch for a confrontation to take place. This did not happen at this stage. A few of the hooligans then began to pull out the metal cordons and throw them around the empty space. None of them attempted, as a group, to challenge or incite the police directly.

Some members of the rest of the crowd began to challenge the hooligans asking them what the fuck they were doing. This is a peaceful protest. Why are you messing this up? The answer was not to antagonize them further. Everyone from behind me began to shout “Without violence”.

Tens of thousands of people then began to leave the Piata - afraid of what might happen. The zone was then occupied by a few hundred men between the ages of 20 and 40, who began to throw snowballs at the police.

A few people started to sit down in the square. But this was not a university they were occupying with nice middle-class scholars - it was now an open square hosting rioters with an unclear intent.

When the police moved forward a few steps, they ran back, and when people start running, everyone starts running. Slowly the police began to occupy more areas of the Piata.

Then came the tear gas. It carried through the air and smack into the face of a few of the demonstrators who could not see, and had to be assisted by friends out of the central square. A few pockets of violence then began. This included a group who set fire to an advertising kiosk. When the firemen came to put out the flames, they told them to leave it and let it burn. Until I left, what followed were running battles between the riot cops and men chucking plastic bottles, flares and snowballs. It looked to be a few hundred men involved in urging a battle - possibly 500 or more. Since then more fires have started at the end of Calea Victoriei.

For five hours, the capital emptied onto the streets tonight. The crowd was angry and the crowd was peaceful. One could even call the demonstration boring and cold. In parts there was a carnival atmosphere, with drummers - even a man dressed as Dracula. The evolution of this protest was moving into a more creative direction.

One man was giving out plastic cups of popcorn instead of bullets. There were over 100,000 attendees. The media has alleged in the past that many of these were paid to be there. I hate to think who is losing so much money on these people. Their numbers increase with every new decision made by this Government.

No one wanted to come out on a sub-zero Wednesday in February to protest against a change in a legal code in Romania. This is not a fight that the people of Bucharest wanted to have. But they wanted to stand up for their principles. Romania is shuffling off its international stereotype as a poverty-stricken backwater that fuels the shitty jobs in western Europe to become, in only a decade, a model member of the European Union. Its fight against high level corruption is the envy of the rest of the region. Romania now has a brand. The brand of a justice system that is dynamic and effective. Romania is the country that gets results. And the people want to protect that brand, nurture it, and help it nourish the rest of the nation - which still sees huge disparities in wealth and the distribution of power.   

This pitch battle (which is continuing as I write) will only confuse the issue. It is not representative of even a small fraction of the demonstrators. When there is violence, the news will focus on violence. The camera naturally turns to a blaze, or a screaming face, or a fist raised in the air. As journalists, we cannot shake this addiction to such dramatics.

The problem for the crowd was that these hooligans were organised, with a singular purpose, while the protestors were not. 

Romania’s Government has declared a war on the war against corruption. The Government, backed by the Social Democratic Party, issued an emergency decree on Tuesday 31 January rendering public misconduct legal if the damages are less that 50,000 Euro.

This also gives amnesty to those who have been convicted or face indictment for these crimes in the past - which means the National Anti-Corruption Department has to drop cases against politicians who are investigated for such crimes. These decisions will affect over 2,000 cases brought by the DNA into official misconduct.

It is likely this would include the current president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Liviu Dragnea, viewed as the kingmaker of the current Government.

Officially the move is intended to reduce overcrowding in prison, but the focus on official misconduct, rather than minor crimes such as theft, indicates that this will favour an amnesty on public officials.

One of my friends said this will “set fire to the country to save politicians from prison”. So far, only advertising kiosks have been burnt down. As I write, this may have gotten worse.

Romania has become a model in the region for fighting corruption due to the efforts of the Anti-Corruption Department (DNA) which investigates graft and malfeasance among high-level officials.

The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, said: “The Government has ignored the dreams and aspirations of millions of free Romanians who want to live in a country liberated from corruption.”

One hopes those dreams and aspirations may not have gone up in the flames of a kiosk in Bucharest’s central business district.

In the summer of 2015 a surprising email arrived in the brick-fronted offices of the children’s charity Unicef in Clerkenwell, London.

It was from a director of David Beckham’s company and it was billing the charity £6,685 for a business class flight.

The fact that the global icon with a £280 million fortune would charge the charity for his travel on Unicef business was not in itself unexpected, as that was written into his contract as a goodwill ambassador.

What shocked the charity was that Beckham was not even taking the flight. The trip was to Cambodia to highlight the work done by Unicef with child victims of abuse and the ex-footballer was mixing his charity role with business while out in the Far East.

It was Unicef’s understanding that, as a result, Beckham was being flown to Cambodia on a private plane which was supporting his Far Eastern tour.

“We are understand (sic) DB was on a private jet so the Fund wouldn’t need to pay for his travel,” Chloe Edwards, Unicef’s ambassador relations manager, wrote back.

But a second director from the Beckham’s company, DB Ventures Ltd, was unrelenting. “There is an allocation in the agreement for DB travel and that is 1 x business class return for any field trips,” the director wrote. “We will always do everything we can to allocate costs away from Unicef and minimise any expenditure but I need to be able to bill what’s agreed.”

These exchanges are contained in leaked documents seen by media from the network European Investigative Collaborations, which raise serious questions about how the charity was being used to maximise the profits of ‘Brand Beckham’, the highly successful business which made around £45m in 2015.

The leaks from 2015 show clearly that Beckham has a mixed attitude towards the charity. He was prepared to give up his time to be photographed with children in peril around the world - thereby raising his profile and awareness of the charity’s work. But at that time, it appears he was not willing to dip into his own personal fortune to give the charity any money.

However, his chief lieutenants reveal in the leaks how his charity role was vital to the Beckham brand because it creates a “halo effect of the positive PR coverage”. This, according to a second key member of his staff “will generate huge income in a business that already has an unbelievably amount of success and a enormous financial profit”.

The emails have emerged from the Football Leaks database containing 18.6 million documents, which was originally handed to the German magazine Der Spiegel. They passed it on media partners in the European Investigative Collaborations in what has been called the largest leaks in sports history.

‘Brand Beckham’ is a brilliant money-making creation. The leaked emails show how the brand is managed and maintained with great skill by two key people in Beckham’s life: Simon Oliveira and David Gardner.

Oliveira is the managing director of Doyen Global, a sports and entertainment agency, is a clever public relations executive who manages the star’s “communications, reputational and philanthropic strategy”.

David Gardner is a friend he has known since his days in the Manchester United youth team. Nicknamed Dava in the emails, he formerly ran a football agency with Sir Alex Ferguson’s son Jason and is married to Hollywood actress Liv Tyler.

The emails suggest that, at times, Beckham is a puppet for the sake of the brand although sometimes he battles to regain control. An example is an email conversation between Beckham and Oliveira in May last year on the seemingly mundane matter of his Instagram account. “I’d like to also be able to be in control of pics that go up and also the way some of its written … I’d like to be able to post,” Beckham wrote.

This prompted a tetchy aside from Oliveira to Gardner. “This is when things go to pot,” snapped Oliveira. “Celebs think they know best but because they don’t live in the real world like you and I make mistakes.”

It had followed a similar incident the day before when Beckham had been delighted to receive a new Mac lap-top in ostentatious gold. “First one in the world… Great present,” Beckham wrote to Oliveira enclosing a photo of himself with the computer. Oliveira was not impressed.

“Nice will keep that one of (sic) social media as then the idiots will they say we’re being showy like Lewis Hamilton private planes etc. You and vb [his wife Victoria] need to be careful about that one as you've always handled that well. You’re the man of the people,” he wrote.

'Man of the people' is one of the core features of the projected Beckham public persona which Oliveira manages so well. It is an image that has attracted countless millions of pounds in commercial sponsorship deals and given Beckham and his wife Victoria’s a personal fortune which almost matches the wealth of the queen, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.

He is the shy and self-effacing boy-next-door who loves his family and is still in touch with his working class roots - and happens to be the ex-England football captain who still looks hot in his underpants. His advisers have skilfully built on these attributes to turn the formerly floppy-haired footballer into one of the most recognisable people in the world.

Beckham earns more in retirement then he did as a player, but he needs continued exposure to keep the brand going. This is perhaps why his advisers saw his role as a Unicef goodwill ambassador as so important.

Gardner had introduced Beckham to Unicef in 2005 while he was still a player. He quit football in 2013 - and later in 2015 he declared that he was going to make a charity fund for UNICEF his“number one priority” 

Beckham even stated that his role for charity was not to improve his image - in an interview for BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs, where celebrities choose the pieces of music that mean most to their lives.

“It’s not for vanity,” he said of his work for Unicef.

He recalled going to Thailand for the first time with Manchester United, being invited to a women’s centre and immediately wanting to learn more.

He remembered thinking: “I want to get involved, it’s important that I do this.”

However, the leaked emails show that Beckham did not act like a puppet for his advisers when it came to the charity work. He would often be stubborn about how much time he would devote to Unicef and was determined not to pay his own money to the charity.

In February 2014, he emailed his right-hand man Gardner to say he’d been contacted by one of his directors at DB Ventures who was unhappy that the company was contributing towards his Unicef trip the following week. Beckham was visiting the Philippines to meet children affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

Beckham wrote:“I totally agree to be honest there’s no way it should be costing me anything”.

Gardner agreed to let the charity know but he wasn’t entirely in line with his friend on the issue, which became clear in a highly revealing email two days later. Gardner was concerned that Beckham’s company had not appreciated the wider commercial value of the charity role to the brand.

“UNICEF is crucial to the brand and his life,” Gardner wrote to Oliveira. “All me and you have tried to do is … create things that he must do for charity so he looks good and people see the great work instead of people constantly reading how much money he makes or what the brand is worth.

He added: “The charity work is crucial and nobody seems to realise how important this is as a part of the DB Business.”

In 2015, Beckham made a big charity announcement to celebrate ten years as a goodwill ambassador to Unicef. He was creating the 7 Fund in a joint venture with Unicef to raise money in seven regions across the world to help children in danger from violence abuse or disease.

In a video produced for the Fund, Beckham talks movingly about his charity work. “We are helping millions of children around the world by stepping up to the plate and putting this fund together,” he said.

The implication was that Beckham was going to personally donate to his new fund, and certainly Unicef and Beckham’s own advisers thought so. Among the leak documents is a sheet of answers to possible questions which were prepared in advance for Beckham ahead of the press conference to launch the fund in February 2015. It specifically says he should answer “yes I am going to personally contribute to the fund” if asked whether he was going to donate.

This, however, was to become a running sore through most of 2015. Beckham may have been happy to take the advice of his advisers on most subjects, but during this time, when it came paying out his own money, he put his foot down.

In May 2015 Oliveira informed Beckham that Unicef were under the impression he would match the highest donation pledge at a Unicef charity event in New York in May 2015: “Great thing to do,” Oliveira wrote, “but as always I wanted to check.”

Beckham didn’t agree. He had already had a conversation about the subject with Chloe Edwards, the ambassador relations manager at Unicef. He wrote back: “Chloe asked me out right which I was pissed off about … I don’t want to do it and won’t do it with my own money.”

The issue was clearly worrying Unicef, and they sought reassurance. In June Edwards emailed Oliveira asking him to send an email by return to “allay fears” about when the money would arrive so the charity could “commit resource and commit funds to literally pack aid boxes”. She added “we have no extra funds to draw on if they are delayed and the countries are expecting the funds.”

Her suggested text for Oliveira started with “I understand there has been considerable anxiety about when David’s personal donations will arrive at Unicef UK”. Oliveira struck out “considerable” and replaced it with “some” then sent back the email copying in Unicef’s director of fundraising Catherine Cottrell.

The PR executive promised the money in the Autumn and wrote that this “should be close to $1.5m money he kindly wants to give the proceeds to the Fund.”

The Unicef director wrote back to ask for a firm date “as this work with children is so pressing”. She added: “We need to make sure they can plan accordingly and are ready to receive the funds they so desperately need. This also mitigates the risk of the DB7 Fund being perceived as not delivering the ambitious targets it set out at the launch.”

At the same time, another set of emails were being exchanged between team Beckham and Unicef. Beckham had agreed to visit Cambodia in mid June 2015 on behalf of the 7 Fund to meet children who had suffered physical and mental abuse. But there were problems.

He was combining the trip to the Far East with work for his sponsors, the Sands Hotel group (where he has been an ‘ambassador’) and the Diageo drinks company, and his private air travel had been provided for.

However, out of the blue, the charity received a message from Helen Wooldridge, a director at DB Ventures. It said: “I also understand that you guys pay for a business class fare for DB – as per the contract,” wrote Wooldridge, “The cost of this comes in at £6685.00 – how should we bill this back?”

A colleague at DB Ventures pushed further for the payment they were worried about the expenses of the footballer’s entourage for the trip to the Far East which was costing more than they thought, it appears.

The charity took the issue up with Oliveira: “We understood that DB is generously utilising the private jet that is supporting his Asian tour to drop him off and pick him up in Cambodia and that we wouldn’t be paying for flights,” wrote Edwards. “We are obliged to share the Fund’s income and costs and I was concerned that we were being asked to pay for the cost of his business class flight when he’s not taking one.”

The email chain peters out at that point and the matter was clearly discussed further over the phone.

Last week Unicef, in a written statetment, informed us that the 7 Fund has raised “millions of pounds and reached millions of people around the world with crucial messages about UNICEF’s work for very vulnerable children.”

It states that, as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, “David has also helped shine a light on urgent and often hidden issues affecting children including malnutrition, emergencies, violence against children and AIDS.”

But there were other issues with this trip. Unicef had booked Beckham into a five-star Sofitel Hotel in Cambodia, but the football icon wanted to stay in the even more luxurious Amansara resort. One of the directors of his company wrote to the charity asking whether it was okay to switch hotels.

But the multi-millionaire’s staff still wanted the charity to pay its portion of the bill. “Would UNICEF contribute the same amount that was being paid for the Sofitel and he’ll make up the difference in price for the place he wants to stay,” asked the director.

Beckham’s staff had also been worried that he would only want to stay one night. At the time this was an issue as Beckham was refusing to sign a new contract which would tie him down to a certain number of Unicef days a year.

The simmering tensions about Beckham’s commitment to his charity were beginning to boil over back in London. “He has just signed to arguably the most biggest charitable partnership any celebrity has ever done,” Oliveira wrote to a director of Beckham’s company. “He had visited none of his projects yet and we are not placing the most challenging demands on his schedule.

“We need to ensure he shows dedication and concern. If he's scooting off after one day in the field on his private jet to his six star hotel curtailing his time on the ground then it doesn't look great.”

But by August 2015 - six months after the launch of the 7 Fund - Beckham still had not paid any of his own money to the charity. Oliveira emailed Beckham to say: “As you know we are under enormous pressure to deliver income into your Fund. As is understandable you don’t want to put your own money but then it places a greater emphasis on delivering some money before the end of this year.”

Later that month he emailed again to suggest ways of raising the cash. He wrote: “As you know we need to address urgently the need to bring income into the 7 Fund … Many of the projects are desperate for the first round of money and to be honest UNICEF are being patient in not pushing too much.”

He urged Beckham to consider two fee-paying appearances to cover the shortfall. The first was a personal appearance at the African Games the following month, in which he would be paid one million dollars to open a stadium and attend a dinner. The second was an awards evening in Shanghai which was also offering a million for a few hours work. Beckham’s rejection of the two offers was brief. “Let’s think about this as neither sound great.”

Clearly frustrated, Oliveira pointed out that it was expected that ambassadors to Unicef “would put in a kick start amount of money from their own earnings”. He continued: “It just wouldn’t reflect well on you that you have kicked off this incredible fund that is unique and original and that nothing has come from you personally in the first year. We are your mates and will always be honest with you..”

But Beckham stood his ground. His argument was that his role was “about me using my power” to raise money. He added “This needs to be about … not me travelling and adding to my travel which I'm doing enough of already, it all has to fit into what we are already doing…”

The leaked email trail stops at the beginning of the year the latest records filed with the Charity Commission show that the 7 Fund has so far raised a total of two million pounds.

But there was one last long email in November 2015 which showed how Gardner - the man who had set up Beckham’s link to Unicef - saw the charity role. Beckham was central to a project which would be shown that Christmas in which he played seven football games in seven continents to raise money for his fund.

Gardner had been queried from the accountants over a dinner bill. He wrote: “It’s madness how we receive these mails when we are absolutely working ourselves for the benefit of the brand.

“This whole trip will not change my life or anyone else involved except the brands and DB which is a huge part of the business and will generate more and more commercial partners, income and commercial deals. It is crazy how we have these mails and it’s really upsetting when the only people who benefit are the brand and BVL.

“I really don't understand after flying to 6 countries in 5 days for a BBC documentary that will go on air on Boxing day at 8:30pm and will be seen by millions and millions of people which will benefit DB and the DVBL brand business which will generate huge income in a business that already has a unbelievably amount of success and a enormous financial profit.”

In reply to this information, lawyers have told us that Beckham has to date donated over one million pounds to Unicef, and paid all the costs incurred related to the flights and hotel accommodation mentioned.

The donations happened many months before the end of last year, 2016, and payments will happen in the future.

Meanwhile, Unicef issued a statement declaring: “As well as generously giving his time, energy and support to help raise awareness and funds for UNICEF’s work for children, David Beckham has and is continuing to give significant funds personally to 7 Fund. As with all our donors who give, these details are confidential.

“All our Ambassadors support UNICEF in a voluntary capacity, receiving no fee for their time and commitment, and contribute greatly to UNICEF’s work for children in danger around the world.”

Read more: 

Football Leaks: David Beckham's angry pursuit of a Knighthood

Plan revealed to send David Beckham into space

14 December 2013. London. Two weeks before the New Year’s Honours list announces future Knights patronised by the Queen of England.

These luminaries then get to wear the title of ‘Sir’ or ‘Dame’ before their name in a mock-up of medieval pageantry.

But one figure who has yet to achieve this hallowed status is football superstar, charity do-gooder and fashion icon David Beckham.

This night he is engaged in a long interview on a chat show hosted by Jonathan Ross on UK's ITV.

After thanking Beckham just before the closing titles, Ross wagged his finger in the air to stop the clapping and said “One more thing”. 

“At the end of that goal montage earlier on,” said Ross referring to some film clips shown at the start of the show, “he [the commentator] said David Beckham, ‘he’s scored the goal, he’s put us in the World Cup, someone please give this man a knighthood’.”

“Now we haven’t heard the announcement of the honours this year,” Ross continued. “They haven’t tipped you a wink or anything?”

A dapper Beckham, in suit and tie, grinned broadly.

“I”m very honoured and lucky to have what I already have. The OBE [Order of the British Empire, a lesser honour to a Knighthood] I’m very proud of. You know, even to be talked about receiving a knighthood is an unbelievable honour, but I’m very lucky to have what I have.”

The audience would not have known that he was not nearly so casual about the honour as his words and demeanour suggested.

Leaked emails show that six months earlier Simon Oliveira, his chief public relations adviser, had requested information about how a letter nominating someone for an honour should be written.

Indeed, Oliveira had planted Ross’ pay off. He had emailed the show’s producers to inform them the ex-player wanted Ross to say he should be knighted live on air.

“Maybe Jonathan should ask him about [the] knighthood and say he should get it,” Oliveira wrote. “What do you think? David is up for it.”

He even told the show’s producers how Beckham would respond with an anecdote about Ross being a jinx because he had predicted that he would play for Britain’s Olympic team in their last interview. And, of course, Beckham did exactly that.

The campaign had been going so well. But over the next two weeks news leaked to Beckham and his advisers that there was a problem.

Beckham’s attempt to become “Sir David” appears to have been blocked by the UK’s tax authorities, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Like several other celebrities, Beckham and his wife Victoria have been revealed to be part of the Ingenious scheme, a project which could have helped them avoid paying up to £1m of tax by using artificial losses from investments in a range of films. The scheme was being investigated by the HMRC.

The emails emerged from the bombshell Football Leaks database containing data that includes 18.6 million documents, which was originally handed to the German magazine Der Spiegel. They passed it on to other media partners in the European Investigative Collaborations network.

Behind the scenes, the facade dropped two days before the 2013 Honours were published and newspapers had cottoned on that Beckham wasn’t on the list. “You see the knighthood thing today?” Beckham enquired of Oliveira at 5.30 AM from his home in Los Angeles after seeing the Sunday papers.

“We half expected it,” responded Oliveira from London. “Interestingly they’re not saying anything negative about you not getting it for financial or other reasons, rather it's a question of timing and the right age.”

It is crucial to 'Brand Beckham’ - which is thought to have raked in around £45 million in 2015 - that the footballer is presented to the world as a clean cut likeable family man. When asked directly on his previous Ross interview whether he ever used swear words, he replied “no never”, in keeping with his charming boy next door image.

However, Oliveira’s response was the beginning of a long email expletive-laden outburst from Beckham.

This article has not corrected the grammar or spelling apart from adding dashes to some of the swear words.

“They r a bunch of c–ts I expected nothing less,” he wrote of the Honours Committee in late December 2013. “Who decides on the honors?? It’s a disgrace to be honest and if I was American I would of got something like this 10 years ago.”

That morning he had also read that Katherine Jenkins, the classical singer, was about to be given an honour, the Order of the British Empire (OBE). “Katherine Jenkins OBE for what?”, his email continued. “Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops plus admiring [sic] to taking coke… F–king joke and if you get asked we should think of a cutting remark.”

It was left to Oliveira to patiently point out that the committee was staffed by civil servants, royal officers and MPs, and to point out that the “Americans have no real equivalent in place … it's peculiar to this country.

“My honest advice to you is that we should not do anything that jeopardises it and remain positive... Why waste time on a cutting remark as that will only rile the committee? We need to remain dignified if asked but if you want me to work up something cutting I will work up one but my advice is it’s not productive.”

Beckham wrote back: “I agree but it's pissed me off those old unappreciative c–ts.“ The PR guru then emailed David Gardner, one of Beckham’s other close advisers, to reaffirm the knighthood campaign strategy for the following year.

“It just gives us even more reason to work further this year on UNICEF, armed forces, other charitable commitments, etc. Essential…” he concluded.

However, the following year, the scandal over the Ingenious scheme worsened. In July 2014 Ingenious Media wrote to its 1,300 investors, who also included fellow football stars Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Gary Lineker, and told them to prepare for tax demands totalling at least £520m in an HMRC crackdown.

Ingenious Media, which ran the scheme, warned they were likely to be asked to repay all the tax they saved, possibly with interest. The day after the story broke, Oliveira emailed Charles Bradbrook, Beckham’s accountant, to ask how the ex-footballer would be personally affected.

Bradbrook stated HMRC’s demands for repayment over the Ingenious scheme were “a nightmare” and complained the tax agency had “moved the goalposts dramatically”. Despite the bad news, Oliveira pressed ahead with his campaign to get his celebrity client knighted.

In August 2014, the TV historian Dan Snow emailed to ask whether Beckham would support the campaign opposing Scottish independence ahead of the upcoming referendum. Oliveira declared that "clearly the right thing is that we stay together due to our history and because we are stronger" and advised the star that his “I also think your support will play well with establishment and in turn help your knighthood.”

Beckham replied: “Ok let’s do it.” So Oliveira drafted a plea to the Scottish nation on Beckham’s behalf. It read:

“I took as much satisfaction in seeing Sir Chris Hoy or Andy Murray win gold as I did watching Jess Ennis and Mo Farah do the same in the Olympic Stadium. My sincere hope is that you will vote to renew our historic bond, which has been such a success over the centuries and the envy of the entire world. What unites us is much greater than what divides us. Let's stay together. David Beckham.”

Beckham expressed concern the message was “not too needy” or “not too oh please stay with us”, but after Oliveira reassured him the statement was released to the media. It did not contain any of Beckham’s words. But days before the New Years’ Honours List was announced, Beckham appeared to have discovered he had been passed over again.

The issue as to what he missed out seems to have been the Inland Revenue, who “place[d] a flag” on Beckham's nomination without giving any detail, Oliviera states after alleged discussions with figures connected to the committee.

“Many were disappointed but the inland revenue won. So we now have proof this was true and it happened. Disappointing as the situation wasn't properly explained by them just a flag. These are all things we need to bear in mind now. For example your co investors in Miami, how will that affect things like this[?]”

This was a reference to proposals that a Qatari government-controlled investment fund should invest in a football club Beckham was setting up in Miami. But the ex-footballer was in no mood to let the Honours Committee dictate his choice of investors. “Don't give a f–k anymore I'll decide who my investors are not these c–ts… They are f–king c–ts…” Beckham replied. “I pay taxes and always have done so they have no right to do this…. C–ts.”

Oliveira wrote: “Genuinely the problem is…that [HMRC] for the moment they are winning that battle of public opinion. 'People should be paying their way in this country and nasty Starbucks, Google and Gary Barlow profit from this country and give nothing back, blah blah.'

“At the moment I have done a decent job to keep your name away from it and to explain that Ingenious whilst benefitting from tax breaks invested in a number of successful films, companies etc but in the meantime the f–kers behind the scenes are putting pressure on people like you to settle, this Honours Committee thing a perfect example.” Beckham wrote: “The flag has no truth behind it as we didn't [do] nothing wrong everything is and was above board … C–ts.”

Unfortunately for Beckham, Ingenious continued to hit the headlines. In July 2015, it was announced that several investors had decided to sue the creators of the scheme because of the massive bills they now faced.

In August last year, HMRC claimed a “hands down” victory in a tax tribunal judgement over the scheme. But Beckham, apparently, has not given up on his dream. Last year, he was asked to the Premio AS del Deporte awards in Madrid, one of Spanish sport’s most renowned honours, to be given the sporting “legend” prize.

When Oliveira sent him the invite, Beckham replied: “Unless it’s a knighthood f–k off.”

Oliveira wistfully wrote: “Then we might need the ghost of Christmas future [as] the ghost of [Christmas] past hasn't worked.”

Beckham's representatives and Doyen Sports would not respond to questions raised by this article, but did respond to EIC Partners arguing this is 'stolen material', so did not comment on questions related to facts 

Read more: 

Football Leaks: How David Beckham held back from donating to his own Unicef project 

Plan revealed to send David Beckham into space